


Empress To Us All

by lazywhaler



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Humor, I like to think it's funny, Implied Relationships, Jessamine Lives AU, Meta, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazywhaler/pseuds/lazywhaler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a twenty year-old Dishonored fan bearing an uncanny resemblance to the fic's author manages to somehow fall into the world of Dishonored, she decides to take it upon herself to fix everything that went wrong by saving the unjustly killed-off Jessamine Kaldwin. </p><p>This single, theoretically simple, plot-altering action sets off a chain of events which become increasingly more unpredictable, and the (not brave, not-skilled-in-the-martial-arts) heroine realises that her knowledge of Dishonored doesn't mean she's all-powerful...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I hope you like this fic. It's an idea I had three years ago about the T.V. series Merlin, that I'm now using for Dishonored. It's more fun with videogames. Also I know I'm on thin ice with the self-insert thing, but I figure that if I try to write myself as honestly as possible, there's no way in hell I can be a Mary Sue. Feedback's really really welcome.

 

 

I'm a big believer in escapism. I like being insulated from reality, because reality tends to be boring and awful. And depressing. Also, don't think I can't see you guys fucking out of this fic because it's in the first person and you think it's 'weird' and 'not cute' and 'a part of you dies when you see a fic in first person'. I'll have you know, first person is a great way to tell a story. Especially if the story you're telling really happened to you, like the events that I'm about to narrate which are a 100% true and really, definitely happened to me.[1]  

My own story starts in my house on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I'm an absolute couch potato, and the idea of curling up on the sofa with my dog Muffin (we call him Muffy) and remaining mostly motionless while playing a video game is more appealing than an eternity in Paradise. The game of choice for the afternoon was _Dishonored_ , and it would be my fifth time playing it. That's how _Dishonored_ came into my story.  

My story is about how I literally fell into the story of _Dishonored_. 

 I'm not actually crystal-clear on the details of how it happened but I do remember the drawing room sort of _glitching_ , like reality was stuttering. This happened just as I started up a new game. And then it was as if reality had frozen or something. Everything had stopped. Even Muffy's fur wasn't moving. Suddenly, everything went black.  

It was really, really dark and there was absolutely nothing. I wasn't scared because I seemed to not have the ability to feel. There were no thoughts in my head.  

Faintly, I could hear a sound. It was like a crank, maybe? A second or so later, vision was fading in too. I seemed to be on a boat in a tower.  And the boat was going up. The waterlock. 

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realised.[2]  I was scared pretty fucking shitless, to say the least. The little boat reached all the way up and I marveled at how _real_ it was, for about half a nanosecond, also finding the time to take in all the little details: the guards patrolling further off near the exit (the Wall Of Light one) who didn't so much as glance in my direction, even though the metal bridge plank fell onto the boat with an echoing clang, the rectangular opening in the high roof above me, the balcony behind me, with the guard leaning on the railing, the roof that had been so easy to climb... 

Weak at the knees, I tentatively walked across the plank, my footsteps resounding loudly in my ears, and found a Lower Watch Guard in my path.  

"Right this way, miss. Jenkins is waiting for you just outside."  the Lower Watch Guard said to me before I could react. I nodded and moved past him. _Who the fuck is Jenkins?_ I wondered.  I walked past two men tinkering with the waterlock mechanism and heard them discussing something in low voices as I walked past. After what felt like an eternity of walking (because my footsteps sounded really loud to me), I reached the wide door at the end of the structure Dunwall Tower loomed over the surroundings, standing proud, bathed in the sunlight. I glanced around. A Watch Officer waved me over from the right. 

I approached him and tried to keep my pace normal. I sincerely hoped I wouldn't regret meeting him, although it felt unlikely. I seemed to be wearing a long grey jacket and beige trousers with black boots. I probably looked very drab. And very unarmed. The guard disappeared around the corner and I followed him. I turned at the corner and moved from warm sunlight to cool shade. I could see the river through the grills. It was a glorious sunny morning, a gentle breeze blew through my hair and I could smell the river. Gulls were wailing loudly. 

"Good. You're here." The guard called Jenkins said.  There wasn't a whale oil receptacle behind him, yet. "Finally." he added. He was dressed like a Watch Officer, but he didn't look exactly like one, nor did he sound like one. The world would probably be broken if everyone looked and sounded exactly like the same four people. 

I didn't know what to say in response, so I said nothing. Overhead, the gulls swooped onto the roof of the building. 

"Listen to me carefully, I'm not going to repeat this again. In an hour from now, exactly one hour, go turn off the arc pylon, OK? The one in the waterlock. And then get the fuck out of there. They'll kill you if they find you there. Got it? One hour." He walked past me, making his way along the waterlock exit and up to the tower. Bastard must have not wanted any inconvenient questions. 

I was probably in the prologue, but 'probably' wasn't enough for me. I wanted to be sure. I went back to the waterlock exit. There were two guards on either side of the path, but they didn't seem to notice that I was there, facing them, staring right past them. I could see the gazebo. The guards appeared to be patrolling the area. The Empress was definitely still alive.  

I was certain that I had to disable the arc pylon for Daud and the Whalers[3]. That meant that they were going to arrive in an hour. As was Corvo, I realised, he'd come (heh heh) a little earlier than the assassins. It was as if a lightbulb flickered on over my head. I walked past the guards. 

Since I didn't seem to be arousing suspicion even though I had stood in the same position for almost half a minute now, I assumed that I appear to be some sort of servant at the tower. And Jenkins the guard who believed that the Arc Pylon was attuned to me...I was a favour. Daud had paid for me to disable the Arc Pylon. The idea should have made me blush and feel fluttery, but instead I felt a literal chill go through my heart. If I fucked this up... 

Past a set of stairs a maid setting up an easel near a table. Up and up the stairs I went, my heart pounding. I glanced towards the gazebo. It was empty. I crossed paths with another guard. He inclined his head to me politely but I simply strode ahead. Through a little gate and I was past the fence, and in front of the tower. I tried to slow my pace and I reached the bottom of the penultimate set of stairs. I wasn't sure I'd be able to enter the building. I didn't know where the Empress was. I wasn't sure what I'd say if I did meet her. Steeling myself, I put a foot on the first step.  

And instantly, a few uncertainties vanished, because at the top of the stairs, with Dunwall Tower serving as an imposing backdrop, was Empress Jessamine Kaldwin.[5] 

 

* * *

  

Footnotes![5]

[1]Imagine how ridiculous it'd be if someone told you something amusing that happened to them at Taco Bell two days back while referring to themselves in the third person.

[2]I'm using British spelling because I can't bring myself to use American spelling. Ironically, this is reversed in the case of the name _Dishonored_

[3]This is a good name for a band. Daud would be an awesome lead singer

[4] Emily was also there, but I felt like that would lessen the cliffhanger-ness of the chapter, so for the sake of factual accuracy, I'm telling you here

[5]I'm the kind of person who's obnoxious enough to use footnotes. I'm kind of sorry about it, though.

 


	2. Assassination Assassination

 The Empress was about to descend the stairs. Wave upon wave of panic seemed to crash upon my intestines. Jessamine noticed that I was staring up at her like she had three heads and five left hand but only one right hand. I climbed up the stairs quickly. 

"M-my lady, I must have a word with you. It's extremely important." I hoped that I hadn't fucked up already and that she was actually my Majesty or my Highness. (The proper title is 'Your Majesty', but Jessamine was cool enough to not care about it too much)

"Yes, what is it?" she asked me with a polite smile. _You're so kind_...  

"It's- it's very serious. We must speak in private. My lady." I added. Somehow, all the words were coming out in a dead-sounding monotone. 

"We're alone now." she pointed out. The smile had vanished. 

"It's...it- my lady, there's a plot to assassinate you. The Spymaster, Burrows, he's h-hired a, an assassin, they're going to come here in an hour, they're going to kill you...ki-kidnap Emily and frame Corvo, er, The Royal Protector..." I was trembling. 

Jessamine looked appropriately shocked. However, she said nothing, so I continued. 

"Go back inside...take Emily and go back into the tower, in your chambers. Order the guards to search Burrows' residence. They'll find what you need there. Tell The Royal Protector, send word to him to meet him inside. In fact, I'll do that myself. But you must go inside."  

Her eyes looked watery. My raw panic seemed to have convinced her. Oddly though, now that it was time for action, I felt more in control.  

"Yes I'll-(sniffle) go back in. You go and tell Corvo. Tell him to come as quickly as he can. Go. Now. Emily? Emily..." 

I made my way back to the waterlock, purposefully striding past a lot of pretty Dunwall Tower scenery that I was not paying any attention to, looking back to make sure that Jessamine was inside with Emily. She has always been one of my favourites in a game of favourite characters and I had increasingly become frustrated with the way she had been unceremoniously disposed off with before the story even began. Jessamine, who had a sense of justice and was (or is?) kind. It would be a much more interesting story, a noble, just Empress battling a city plagued (I'm a funny person) with corruption and actual plague. I had forgotten how trusting she appeared to be. 

When I reached the waterlock, I caught the attention of one of the guards. "The Lord Protector's to meet the Empress in her study." 

The guard's mouth twitched, like he was going to say something like "Did she mean 'her chambers'?" but somehow managed to restrain himself. 

I went back to the door and peered outside. Campbell was having his portrait taken. It had to be soon then...he had to be on his way here now... 

I turned around to face the other exit. It was open. I walked across the long room (I think video games have more walking in it than The Lord Of The Rings and that's not even factoring in all the backtracking) and stepped out. I could see the small storage room where I'd unsuccessfully hid five guards once. I glanced up at the shutters. This way was closed in the prologue. Would they close it soon, or was that only a gameplay thing, like the fact that everyone didn't actually sound alike? I walked down the stairs and stopped at the door. I pressed my ear to the door, trying to hear any sound at all. Nothing. I wondered what would happen if I died here. Would some kind of Inception-shit happen, where I would wake up at home, or would I actually die? I didn't want to test any theories. After about two full minutes of agonizing, I slowly creaked the door open and peered around it. 

The Arc Pylon wasn't on. I gingerly walked down the metal staircase and towards the receptacle. The container was out of whale oil. A hysterical laugh escaped me.  I moved to the door and opened it by an inch or so. I could see the waterlock tower. All I had to do now was wait... 

And I didn't have to wait long. Within half a minute or so, some red lights turned on and a single loud siren wail was emitted from the room I was in, and it hurt my ears. Water was seeping from the walls, a huge quantity and I had to shut the door. This room would be submerged soon, surely. The water continued to seep. I could hear that metallic clanking noise again. And then water appeared to be streaming through the keyhole, as if the waterlock was having a huge piss in the room I was in (I write _really_ well OK!). On and on, the water leaked. I couldn't hear a sound. This went on for some time until the siren went off again and the water stopped leaking in. The waterlock was being drained. I cracked the door open again. A chill went through me.  

When all the water finally drained out, a silence fell over the whole place. My hands were really cold now. The silence was broken by the unmistakable (to me anyway; I like to swim) sound of humans in water. That's when I shut the door. I was now caught in some weird oscillation between being scared for my life on the most primal level, and feeling a profound numbness. I heard the clanks of boots on the metal platform outside. The door swung open all the way, this time creaking just a little and in walked three scary figures in industrial gas masks followed by the Knife of Dunwall himself, all clad in red, right in front of me, Daud.  

(This would have been an awesome point to end the chapter but I'm going to keep going because this chapter had a disproportionate amount of me waiting in a waterlock) 

Daud was even more hot in person, but he also had this _presence,_  which meant I was infinitely more scared than anything (aroused). So despite the power rush I'd had just fifteen minutes ago, I fell apart and became a mouse again. 

"Wait!" I exclaimed. Three pairs of gas mask eyes and one pair of Wolf-Among-Man eyes turned to me, like extremely bright spotlights. "I deactivated it, the Arc Pylon, like you as- wanted. But you should know...someone has betrayed the Spymaster, he's been arrested, for, for, conspiring to kill the Empress. They're rounding up anyone involved right now, like, as we speak." I wasn't sure if he'd been arrested. But hopefully, he was under investigation or something, at least... 

Daud stared into my face very intensely, like he was trying to picture my insides.  This was all I had ever wanted in theory, but instead, I was trembling in a very different way indeed. _He knows_ , I thought, heart sinking, _he knows you're lying..._ Then, mercifully he turned to one of the Assassins.  

"See if it's true" he rasped at the Assassin. That voice at least, I could still find some pleasure in. The Assassin climbed up the stairs, opened the door and vanished. It overwhelmed me then, a feeling of utter helplessness and despair and the realisation that I might be very, _very_ close to dying.  

Moments of silence passed. Daud said nothing to the Whalers. No one seemed to be looking at me. I didn't dare move. I was still extremely frightened, but somehow, the awkwardness of the situation was still getting through the fear. As this continued, my fear was slowly being replaced by the pain of an awkward silence. 

The metamorphosis was almost complete when the Assassin came back and confirmed that everything that I had pulled out of my bum was apparently true now. Burrows had been arrested because someone had betrayed him and because of his compulsive need to note down all his thoughts, there had been piles of incriminating evidence, although no one could seperate rumour from fact. Burrows started the plague, Burrows was going to send Emily to work at the Golden Cat, Burrows was going declare himself Emperor...and Daud had been mentioned too. Letters and and note in which Burrows griped about how much Daud had charged.  

They would have to leave now, there was no way they could still be here. And leaving they were. Before they left, Daud turned to me. "I don't know why you warned us," he said "But you have my thanks". Even that somehow managed to sound like a threat. The door swung shut and they were gone. I was alone once again. 

Relief hit my almost like a physical force. I crumpled onto the floor and burst into tears, sobbing my heart out for the first time in ages. I cried and cried and cried for about five minutes, my loud sobs echoing all over the room. Once I was done, I stood up, straightened my jacket, and looked up to drain the blood from my face. When I was assured that I no longer looked like a grotesque, blotchy-faced hysterical woman with wild hair, I climbed up, and stepped out.  

I felt so happy and exhilarated, that I could scream. I had done it. I'd fucking fixed Dishonored. Corvo wouldn't have to go to jail and be tortured while dealing with the death of his partner, Emily wouldn't be kidnapped while dealing with her grief and Jessamine was alive. Even the weather seemed triumphant, with the bright sunlight and gentle breeze. I was so happy I didn't even realise that I was at the front steps of Dunwall Tower until two figure emerged from the shadow cast by the tower and into the sunlight.  

One of them was Corvo Attano. 

The two men looked at me closely and said something to each other. I managed to catch the words 'description' and 'grey jacket'.  

"What's happening? I work here, I was just going in...to bring..." I trailed off feebly, as they briskly descended the staircase. 

"Miss, you're going to have to come with us. We'd like to ask you some questions." said the Watch Guard with Corvo.  

"What is this? Am I being arrested...?"  

"No, miss." Corvo said, "We just want to clear some things up" He had a grip on my arm and firmly escorted me up the stairs and into the tower. It came back to me...the Assassin telling Daud that someone had betrayed Burrows...someone on his team... 

I was in deep trouble. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I'm doing away with footnotes, and putting them in brackets next to the thing. I don't even have the patience to imagine readers scrolling up and down.  
> 2\. Jessamine dying was the biggest problem I've had with the story, and although the effects of her death were realistic enough for me, I'm still unhappy about her death.  
> 3\. Also, it should be evident that I really fucking love waterlocks. What an awesome way to enter a building!


	3. Arrested Developments

They didn't send me to jail.

Don't get me wrong, I only put in that first sentence because it's catchy and technically factually accurate. I was a prisoner, but I wasn't sent to Coldridge Prison. I was under a kind of house arrest/state-sanctioned kidnapping, where you're stuck in the shittest room in someone else's house and you just get to eat twice and you only get to speak to someone once a day and that someone is probably trying to have you executed. It's not fun.

I left you at the dramatic moment where I was arrested by some City Watch guy and Corvo Attano. This is what happened after that: I was escorted into the tower by the two men; not through the front door, but through some side entrance that was in an area off-limits in the game and which took us into an corridor I think is near the kitchen, judging by the sparse walls and flooring. Once inside, they stuck me in a room which was bare except for a sconce in the wall for a torch, a narrow bed, an uncomfortable-looking chair and horrifyingly, something that looked like a toilet.  Then, they left me alone.

Literally nothing happened after that. I couldn't tell you how much time elapsed, and the room had no windows to see what time it was. I had been taken (arrested?) around the afternoon, I estimated. I settled myself on the hard bed. I had never been this deprived of external stimuli. I glanced around the room again, taking in the worn flooring, the bare walls, the shadow of the chair cast by the flickering torch. I refused to look at the toilet. I thought I was going to cry again. But I didn't. Instead, I just felt numb. It was almost scary. I laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to get my brain to think, disgusted at myself for giving up so quickly. Wasn't I supposed to be banging my fists on the door, shouting 'I'm innocent! You've got the wrong person! I don't know anything!'? That didn't seem like it was going to happen.

What felt like hours later, but who the fuck knows, the door began creaking, the squeaks sounding like the hysterical screaming I suddenly found myself wanting to indulge in. It swung open, and into my prison room walked The Royal Protector, Corvo Attano.  The first thing that I noticed about him was that he was extremely distinctive. Like Daud, he had a presence, a weight to him. (I'm really fucking sorry that I lack the articulation to convey abstract concepts like YOU GUYS HE'S ONE OF THE CHARACTERS YOU CAN PLAY AS IN THE GAME) The long flowing coat helped too.  Like Daud, he was also noticeably more handsome than the other people around here, what with the chiseled features, and the gorgeous hair and the intense gaze, an aura of intimidation that hid a softer, more tender interior. I fervently hoped he hadn't come in to torture me for information. 

"You'll be interested to know," he said, seating himself in the wooden chair and moving it so he was opposite me, the scraping of the wood on the floor echoing a little, "that Hiram Burrows is going to be facing trial tomorrow morning. Apparently, he kept notes and audiographs of everything he planned, down to every last detail. All his co-conspirators, all their resources, all their meetings...everything." His voice was deeper than I had expected. He seemed calm, but there was no way that he'd just come to read me the evening paper. (Figuratively of course. I prefer to do my own newspaper reading.)

"The sheer number of people who saw a benefit in killing Jessamine...and of such high position. Overseer Campbell, the Pendleton twins, high-ranking officers of the City Watch, Generals of the Army, Admirals of the Navy, even Sokolov's under investigation. So many people involved. But you know the funny thing? _There was only one woman involved_. Waverly Boyle. His mistress and _financial backer"_ he said with a hint of disdain. "She's in Coldridge now, along with the others. That's right, they've all been rounded up, and facing execution, the penalty for treason."

I gathered that this was supposed to scare me into talking, but I didn't know if he was trying to scare me with the threat of execution, or the execution of a conspirator he thought I was close to. Maybe it was both. 

We looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"They're talking about you, did you know?" his voice got softer. "They're calling you the Grey Witch." I looked blankly at him, and he nodded his head at me "you know - because of your coat."

"Oh." I said hoarsely, realising that it was the first time I'd spoken in hours.

"Yes," he confirmed. "The guards are talking about how you've been walking around the Tower grounds all morning, walking in and out of the waterlock as if no one could see you. No one can recall you working here. No one even _knows your name_." _Oh look, here comes the threat train._ Then I remembered who I was mentally quipping at. 

Maybe he could see the fear in my face, because his expression softened somewhat. "Look, I don't want to arrest you. You did my job for me, protecting the Empress and her daughter. If you hadn't...they're everything to me....I don't know what I'd have done..." _No wonder everyone knows._ His openness shocked me a little. He was either being very stupid right now, or manipulative. Or maybe he just didn't care at this point. A suspected witch going around talking about how the Lord Protector and Empress are screwing would be like pissing in a cup already full of piss. 

"A lot of secrets are going to come out of this trial, and we'll find out who you are sooner or later, witch or not. I have to ask though, are you a witch?"

"No." I replied. It dawned on me that he was cross-checking me. If my 'story' didn't match whatever the murderous liars spewed at their trials, I'd under more _rigorous investigation_  (torture). And if by some misfortune, someone decided they knew me, I'd be fucked.  I'd fallen out of the sky today morning. Nobody knew me. But those people were all borderline-sociopathic liars. Morris Sullivan terrified me. Panic gave me another icy hug.

"Do you work at Dunwall Tower?"

"No." _Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit_  


"Do you want the Empress dead?"

"No." and then, because something snapped inside me, I continued, "The Empress is the only person keeping this city afloat right now. Without her, everything would have plunged into chaos. The city would have been close to utter collapse. Emily would have seen her mother stabbed in front of her. Your life would have been in shambles. They were going to accuse you, and then torture you for a false confession. Everyone was going to use you as a political tool and an assassin." I was starting to sound like a time-traveler, alternate future viewer person. Not caring, I ploughed on. "You were going to strike terror into the heart of the elite of Dunwall. Emily was going to be held at that godforsaken bathhouse exposed to fuck knows what horrors. She was going to be a  puppet for all those megalomaniacs to leech off. That's why I did what I did. That's why I saved your Empress." I finished, almost bitterly. I was angry enough that I was talking in my 'Wrathful God' style.

A heavy silence fell over the room.  Corvo looked awestruck. I felt invincible again. 

"I'm not saying anymore." I said, "I know you're going to keep me in here until every last one of those conspirators is dead. We can talk tomorrow." 

The imperiousness of that last sentence didn't seem to rankle him. He got up and nodded. His face seemed dazed. 

"Before you go," I said to him as he reached the door, "I'd like some writing material. Papers and a pen, if you please." He nodded and left. 

I didn't even want to think about what was going to happen. I crawled into the bed and fell asleep. (This is how I deal with problems)

When I woke up, there was a tray on the floor with a loaf of bread, a sheaf of blank pages, a fountain pen and an ink pot. 

The imprisonment severely addled my memory of the imprisonment. It was quite a lot like when I binge-watch a television series. I know perfectly well which major events have transpired and in what order, but if you were to ask me what episode the event took place, you'd get the most vacant look imaginable and maybe a sound like 'Eh?'.  Being confined to a single room, getting food pushed through at infrequent intervals, having to take a dump in the same room that I slept in...it drove me insane. So from here, I transcribe the notes that I made from that room

[Beginning of notes]

**Day Two**

Entry 1: It's so nice to be able to have something to _do._ I just had a loaf of bread and some sausages. They also slipped me a glass of whiskey. It's really good whiskey, and I hope there's more where that came from. I feel so much better now. I love alcohol.

Entry 2: Corvo was just in to see me. He told me that Burrow's trial is already over and that he's been sentenced to death. Jessamine has declared a state of emergency. He didn't ask me any questions today. He just told me that the other conspirators are going to be tried starting tomorrow, and many more people have been arrested based on evidence and suspicion and if there was anything I'd like to say. I didn't say anything. There's nothing to say. He says he's not going to read my notes, but if I try to send a message to anyone, they'll take my paper away. So I'll probably just have to wait until the trial's over to get out of here. I don't want to think about what comes after that. Corvo was acting like my little outburst yesterday didn't happen, but he was looking at me weirdly the whole time. Maybe even with fear.

**Day Three**

Entry 1: (A collection of messy and untidy doodles of extremely low quality. Can barely make out the sentence 'no word about daud??')

Entry 2: Two meals have come in while I've been awake, but no Corvo. Probably at the trial. Need to remember to ask him about Daud. Although I'm wondering if I should. I don't want to get Daud in trouble. I'll decide when I see Corvo. Whiskey's really good, it's the only thing keeping me sane. 

Entry 3:Holy shit holy fucking shit Corvo came to visit. I think it's the middle of the night now but eff it I'm keeping this in day 3.  Anyway, Corvo came in and seemed really freaked out. Said he snuck out here to meet me because he couldn't talk about this during the day. Then he told me that the Outsider appeared to him in a dream and talked to him last night. The dream seemed very real and based on what he said seems to be set in the Void version of Dunwall Tower. The Outsider told him that Jess was besieged by enemies on all sides and that he felt for Corvo and wanted to give him three gifts. I asked to see the Mark on Corvo's hand which spooked him a bit so that was fun. The second gift was a name, Delilah, so I guess that's a new rabbit hole to get fucked in. What's the third gift I asked him. He said that it's me. It became awkward for a minute after that. He said the Outsider told him that the Grey Witch knows many secrets, and sees many futures and was more powerful than she pretended to be. He told Corvo that I would help find runes. I didn't know what to say. He asked me who Delilah is. I said that I wouldn't tell him anything until I got out of this shithole. He said that he would work on it, but Jessamine didn't trust me and he couldn't tell anyone about the Outsider so what could he do? He said he'd need some time. I said I'd need more whiskey. He said ok.

**Day Four**

Entry 1: the grey witch??? that's such a lame fucking name like it's not cool ok just because someones jacket is grey doesnt mean you can call people that. also i want it on record that i had a bunch of whiskey and nothing else for breakfast its fucking awesome 

Entry 2: Corvo's just been in to drop another bombshell. Jessamine wants me moved to Coldridge. He says he tried to persuade her that I don't know anything, but he can't be too vocal. Apparently, these Grey Witch rumours are everywhere in Dunwall now and they're convinced that I'm involved too. It sounds like there are lynch mobs roaming the streets baying for my blood. He told me to sit down while he grabbed a chair himself, all serious, forgetting that I was already sitting on the bed. He said that given the current climate, things looked very bad for me. And that there was no way I could be out in public. He said it was a disgrace that I'd saved the Empress and I was being branded an outlaw for all my troubles. So he's taking matters into his own hands and he's going to break me out. He said to be ready and he'd come for me in the night. He's forgotten that there's no way to tell the time down here.

[End of notes]

This is what happened in the wee hours Day Five:

I sat ready on the bed (This is a good sentence out of context, I think). I'd stuffed the loose pages in one of the pockets of my jacket. This jacket that apparently made me iconic. Even the Outsider knew about it. He probably knew that I'd wandered in from another dimension. I wondered if he could send me back somehow. I seemed to be on the way to becoming best friends with his new crush (Corvo), so maybe it wasn't out of the realm of probability anymore. 

I'd been waiting for what felt like hours (THERE'S NO WAY TO TELL THE TIME I HATE THAT SO MUCH) when I heard a yell from down the corridor. I jumped to my feet, straightening my jacket. Some more yells. Something was wrong. Were the guards attacking Corvo? Would we become fugitives? _Good thing this happened after he got his powers._ Something or (and I hoped it wasn't) someone slammed against the door. _Life on the lam in a fictional world, woohoo_  


The sound of the key twisting around filled my eardrums as I inched closer to the door which was opening slowly. It wasn't Corvo.

"The Grey Witch," said Daud, the light from the torch throwing the scars on his face into sharp relief, "We're here to break you out." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. This was an immensely fun chapter to write, it's kind of disturbing that it's fun for me to write about myself being under spartan house arrest.  
> 2\. Corvo was great to write too. I see him and Jess as being on edge because of the threat to their family plus Corvo has that Outsider thing he's not sure if he can tell Jessamine about. Not because he can't trust her, but because he's scared of implicating her in heretical stuff.  
> 3\. I really think I'm getting a feel for the story, but please, I need feedback, I don't want this to be another abandoned fanfic (edit: wow this sounds tragic) and also I don't want my only feedback to be me patting myself on the shoulder (edit: wow this sounds true)


	4. Break-Out, NOT Rescue

  For about a second or so, I stood frozen to the spot. My brain told me once again that Corvo hadn't come to break me out. Then, I stepped forward and quick as lightning, Daud gripped my arm and hauled me out of the room. For the first time in five days, I might add. The corridor was dimly lit, as bare as my room, only with three guards sprawled on the floor here and there and one slumped right in front of me (He's the one who got slammed against the door in the last chapter, see guys _, I pay attention to detail_ ).  

"Are they dead?" Hyperactive though my mind was, it was hard to speak. 

"Knocked out." 

We teleported to the end of the passageway in front of a door. It worked exactly like Blink in the game, except I couldn't choose where to go. Oh and time didn't stop.  

"You don't seem very surprised." Daud remarked, opening the door. _That's because I'm not,_ I thought. I said nothing though, I was starting to get scared of Daud again. 

I found myself in a small rectangular room with a table, a ceiling lamp and a Whaler in a red uniform perched on the lamp.  

"Billie Lurk, holy fuck!" I exclaimed before I could control myself. 

Billie jumped off the ceiling lamp, her red coat billowing as she did so. I couldn't see her face behind that mask, but somehow, I just knew that she was smirking.  

"The Grey Witch, in the flesh." she said, advancing towards me slowly, "You recognized me, so you _must_ be the real deal. I thought you'd look more scary somehow." She turned to Daud. "They're waiting outside. Took care of the guards for you. _Knocked out_." Her emphasis on the last two words made it unnecessary to add a _like you said_. I thought back to the unconscious guards in the corridor. So Daud didn't want any killing on this mission. _He's probably just being practical, don't read into it too much..._

"Is the Grey Witch trying to cast a spell? We need to get moving. Let's go." Billie said snapping me out of my reverie. (I zone out at the worst of times and for that, I am deeply ashamed). 

Billie pushed open a door which turned out to be the discreet side entrance through which I'd been brought in. It was the middle of the night, and it was really dark, except for a few bright spotlights to illuminate the main path to the tower. I couldn't see any guards patrolling. Jessamine evidently hadn't been consumed by paranoia yet. The downside to the patchy security was that I couldn't see a damn thing outside of the way to the tower that we probably weren't going to use. Someone grabbed my arm and suddenly we were on the wide ledges on the building that I had thought were ridiculously wide when I played as Corvo but now didn't seem wide enough. My discomfort seemed to be visible on my face because Billie, who still had my arm in her grip, laughed a little and said "You're the most adorable witch I've ever met. " sardonically and then jerked her head indicating that I should move. 

I've never thought of myself as having a fear of heights, mainly because I'm not scared of heights. But when the threat of injuries related to dropping from great heights (It wasn't even a story high, to be fair) hang over you, those great heights become at least a little scary. Heart in my mouth, back to the wall, I inched toward the front of the tower, with Daud and Billie behind (next to?) me. They weren't clinging to the wall like I was. At the corner, Billie gripped my shoulder, so I stopped. Then, we were on top of the gazebo. Daud followed a second later. I tried to act like Blink wasn't disorienting which was easy (because I'd done it before in the games) but at the same time, difficult (because I'd _only_ done it before in the games). I glanced up at the sky. There were a whole ton of stars twinkling overhead. Dunwall didn't seem to have light pollution problems yet. Billie caught hold of me again and then the three of us were on the roof of the waterlock. I could faintly discern the outlines of two Whalers.  

"She's a lot less scary then you said she was." Billie said to one of them. She turned to me. "Thomas here said he could tell that you were a witch the moment he saw you." _Yay, I'm famous now._ I thought for the billionth time. 

Daud didn't acknowledge this little scene. "Everybody here?" he rasped. Presumably they nodded.  

Without a word, Billie grabbed my arm and we blinked our way down the waterlock, devoid of both people and water. It was dizzying and stomach-churning, but my love for the watelock gave me strength (You might assume, that I'm joking here, and this is understandable, but I'm not; I _really_ love the waterlock.). As we were blinking from ledge to ledge, it occurred to me that Corvo could be on his way to break me out right now. 

Once we reached the bottom, Billie let go of my shoulder at long last. We waded through the water. I became very conscious of the fact that I was making the most noise, but if the others had even noticed, they didn't comment on it. We waded out of the waterlock, to the left along the base of the cliff. There were two small boats bobbing up and down on the water, tied to a protruding rock. Daud climbed onto one, in smooth, graceful movements. 

"Take the other one, all of you," he said to Billie, Thomas and the Whaler whose name I didn't know. "I want a word with this one alone." I could physically feel my intestines become cold and sink lower and lower.  

The Whalers climbed and blinked onto their boat as I prepared to clamber onto ours. I don't have the greatest upper-body strength and I was probably making it painfully obvious at the time. Daud extended his hand to me without, his face displaying no emotion, although he had to have been at least mildly annoyed. He hoisted me up on the boat with one hand as I scrambled to get in, as clumsy as he had been smooth. I seated myself on the bench opposite Daud's. He started up the motor. Apparently, he knew how to pilot a boat. 

"I knew there was something...suspicious about you. Burrows wasn't arrested when you spoke to us, only under investigation. You lied. Why?" 

"I didn't want you to kill the Empress." I replied and regretted it almost instantly. Was this backtalk? Had I angered him? Would he throw me overboard to be eaten by the hagfish? 

"I've recently heard from our...mutual friend. After a very long time. He told me that the Grey Witch was in possession of information I'd find useful. So, what does he want me to know?"  

"I haven't spoken to...our mutual friend. Ever." I said slowly and cautiously. 

"Don't lie to me. You mention him in those notes you made." _Fuck_. I'd been pickpocketed. I'd somehow assumed that I was immune to having my pockets picked but I realised then how silly the idea seemed. I barely remembered what I'd written because I'd been drunk when writing most of it. 

"I know _of_ him. But I swear, I've never spoken to him or even _seen_ him." I felt a little guilty about that last part because it was only true that I hadn't seen him in the flesh. "Maybe, " I said hesitantly, "maybe, if you tell me exactly what he said to you...his exact words...then...I...I could..." I trailed off weakly. The only sound to be heard was the steady, low hum of the boats motor. In another situation, it could almost be soothing. Then -  

"Fine." he growled. "He spoke to me that night. On the day of your arrest. Said he could tell I was reluctant to carry out the task. And that he was glad I didn't go through with it. That I'd got his interest again." He paused. I could tell he was embarrassed to be talking about the Outsider, although this was only due to my knowledge of Daud's character and not any signs I could pick up on. "He had a gift for me. A name. Someone I'd find extremely useful." _Delilah?_ "The Grey Witch" _Oh._

The Outsider appeared to have had a busy night, on the day I'd saved Jessamine. In one night, he'd given Corvo his powers and then told Corvo and Daud the exact same things about me. _He definitely knows..._ Was I _interesting_ to him too?  Was he trying to punish me for changing the order of things? No...that didn't seem like something he would be angry about. Maybe this was his way of roping me into the fun...getting me involved in the action too, me with my plot-altering powers and semi-omniscience... 

"Look, " I started, "I'm not a witch. Technically, I suppose I'm the Grey Witch, in the sense that that's what everyone calls me over here. But I don't have any, er, abilities. I have..." and then it came to me, the way I could pass off all my knowledge of the game "I have visions. Of the past, the present, possibilities of the future. That's what he meant. That's why I stopped you from killing the Empress. I've seen what happens if...if you kill her. It doesn't end well." 

"For me or for Corvo?" 

_The way I did it, it worked out OK for both of you in the end_. "For both of you. He would have been driven mad with grief, you with guilt. And the city would have been on the verge of collapse. Things may not be that great now, but it's a hell of a lot nicer than _that._ " 

"And what if I'm already being driven mad with guilt?" 

I looked him straight in the eye. "It would have been worse."  

After that, a silence fell over us again, and this one felt a little more comfortable. I felt like I had won him over, more or less. I found myself feeling a bit sorry for Corvo. It was in his interest to keep me safe too. But without Jessamine's support, life at the tower even after he broke me out would have been restricted. And that's if he let me stay there. It was more likely he'd hide me somewhere else and that thought was even less appealing. Daud had the Whalers at his command, who did Corvo have? And given that Daud had personally come to break me out, saying no probably wasn't going to be an option anyway. I would have to work with what I was given.  

"They're going to be looking for me." I ventured mildly.  

"You're in good company, then." came the pithy reply. 

We sat in silence again, with the motor humming softly and without a stop. I soon became extremely drowsy and found it increasingly difficult to keep my eyes open. My brain seemed incapable of forming thoughts, and Daud didn't pose enough of a threat to me anymore to keep me awake (I still found him scary, don't get me wrong; it's just that I was so exhausted that it would take ultra-high levels of fear to keep me awake in that state).  

The rest of the journey passed in a daze. I remember us changing direction at one point so we were no longer sailing across the river, but along it, the already scant and dim lights becoming even scantier and dimmer, the struggle to keep my eyes open, as if my eyelids were made of iron... 

I woke up from a half-sleep when I couldn't hear the motor anymore. It was too dark to see anything but I think I knew where we were. (I WAS IN THE FLOODED DISTRICT OMFG). We got out of the boat, (clambered, in my case), and from there, it took a few short blinks and we were in the Chamber Of Commerce building, in the corridor with the plank leading up to the window. I could see Whalers patrolling on the planks and platforms outside.  

"Put her in the guest room." Daud told Billie. I hoped he wasn't referring to the barrel that they put (might put?) Corvo in. I followed Billie through a door that definitely wasn't in the game and down another musty, ramshackle corridor and into a small room with a bed against the wall which also had a giant window that was almost floor-to-ceiling. There was a tiny washstand in another corner and opposite the stand was a cabinet with a few books. It was almost pretty in a haunting, eerie way. 

"Sleep tight." Billie said, from outside the room, closing the door with surprising gentleness. Maybe she was scared the door would break. 

I collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep almost immediately. 

* * *

   **AN INTERLUDE: SOMEWHERE ELSE**

Her eyes snap open, the dim light of daybreak falling on her face, the sound of rainfall against the window next to her. Something's not right. The light is too blue. 

She knows where she is now. 

Tentatively, she sits up and puts her feet on the ground. There's a door right next to the bed. She gets up, and pushes the door open. She's in the Void. 

She climbs up a flight of stairs that has just materialized in front of her. She doesn't appear fazed by the nothingness around her. He's waiting for her at the top.

_So, we meet at last._ He says to her. 

She tells him that she thought he had no power over her. 

_It doesn't work like that_  he tells her. _You're in my world now. You're no different than anyone else._

She blinks, and nods slightly. She understands. 

_Your sudden appearance is definitely the most interesting thing that's happened in ages. The very first thing you wanted to do with all your prescience and foreknowledge was save the Empress, to fix everything that went wrong, to save Dunwall itself. A fool's errand, but noble nonetheless. But tonight, you were quick to abandon Corvo when it was becoming too inconvenient to you...watching the three of you will certainly prove enjoyable._

She listens carefully and nods. Then she asks him when she can go home again. 

_I didn't bring you here, if that's what you're asking. I can, however, send you back. And I will. Once I see how all this plays out. You'll go back like nothing happened. I thought I knew what the next few months would hold for me, at least. It's all unpredictable now. I like that. There aren't any gifts I can give you that you'd have much use for more than the gifts you already have. Watching you put them to use, will undoubtedly be fascinating..._

Everything starts fading to black. They're both gone. 

* * *

 I awoke to the sound of Billie Lurk's voice. 

"Grey Witch, wake up," she was saying "Daud wants to see you in his office." And then she left, leaving the door open.  

I got off the bed, yawning and stretching. Sunlight streamed into the room, dust particles suspended in the light. I shuffled over to the sink in the corner. This was where the door was in my dream last night. Or my excursion to the Void. Whatever. I washed my mouth and face. Then, because there was no towel, I wiped my face on the bedcovers. I straightened my jacket which was like an identification card now, and stepped out into the corridor. Billie was leaning against a wall, a few doors away. 

"I'm sorry, have you been waiting for me?" I asked, walking towards her. 

"Aw, such a polite witch. Come on, he's waiting." She said and I walked alongside her. 

As we walked down an unfamiliar (to me) corridor and climbed up a staircase that looked to be in imminent danger of collapse, it occurred to me that Daud had essentially ordered his second-in-command to babysit me. Either he thought I was very important, or very dangerous. He clearly hadn't spent enough time around me to know that I was neither. Although, I supposed now I _was_ important now, even if it was because I was now a cosmic plaything.  

We walked into Daud's office. Involuntarily, I glanced at the giant cabinet near the staircase that I always hid on top off. Even when I played as Daud. The man himself was behind his table, reading a paper spread out on the table top. He looked up  and nodded at Billie. She turned around and walked out, closing the doors behind her. It was just him and me now.  

"Congratulations, you made the front page." he said, folding up the paper, no, _newspaper_ and tossing it to me. The newspaper was called _Dunwall Daily Gazette_ and the headline blared 'GRAY WITCH AT LARGE'. Underneath was a sketch of my face and details of my escape. There didn't seem to be any mention of Corvo... 

"They'll have posters of you all over the city by dusk." he said. I smiled my best gleeful smile. I had achieved notoriety and I was proud of it. I like to think that Daud smiled imperceptibly in response. He probably didn't. 

"We're going to meet a client now, and you're coming with us. It's time to see whether he really meant what he said for once." _Nice try not being bitter, dude._

"Who's the client?" I prayed it was someone I knew. 

"That's part of the test. We're leaving now." 

"Just one question...?" 

Daud looked at me expectantly. 

"Can I take the newspaper with me?" 

And so we left the office, Daud leading the way with his purposeful strides, on his way to meet someone who wanted someone else dead, and me following, clutching the newspaper with both hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. My main aim with this fic is to deconstruct and play with tropes associated with Self-Insert fics. Someone with meta powers like my self insert is going to be noticed and will definitely arouse suspicion, in my opinion. That's why Self Insert goes to jail and becomes suspected of having supernatural powers. Secondly, self-insert Mary Sues tend to become the center of love triangles, and the author's favourites fight over them. I've kind of tried to mirror that here, with Corvo and Daud both looking for Self Insert but only because the Outsider told them to, because he thought it'd be fun. Thirdly, Self Insert doesn't have godlike powers like the protagonists of some self-insert fics do, and is vulnerable to all dangers present in the world and has to follow all the rules of the world.  
> 2\. The thing is, I feel like I'm on thin ice and that I have to find a balance between invoking these tropes while not becoming an outright self-insert Sue fic and also not being so concerned with deconstruction that the story itself takes a backseat.  
> 3\. I've written in two important characters, the Outsider and Billie Lurk and Daud makes a return here too. I hope I've written them right and that they aren't too OOC.  
> 4\. So regarding the points above, I'd really appreciate hearing what you think, what works for you, what doesn't, if there's any suggestions you have...anything at all. This is the furthest I've ever gone with a fic and I'm really excited. I also want to thank all the people who've left comments and given kudos. It really makes my day. Sorry for this obscenely long postscript thing. Bye!


	5. Sunset Sinister

 Bringing the newspaper along proved to be a good decision. Besides containing lurid speculation on the methods of my escape, and a small editorial criticizing the Administration for not locking me up in Coldridge where I belonged, it filled me in on what I'd missed that week. After Burrows' execution, Jessamine had evidently put further executions on hold for a while. All the accused conspirators were still in prison awaiting trial and a few of their trials had begin. The _Gazette_ didn't seem to mind the Empress's soft stance on the traitors because their trials would probably be (and already were) revealing juicy secrets. I didn't mind either because Jessamine didn't seem to be becoming a paranoid tyrant, as one tends to after a conspiracy to murder one and kidnap one's daughter.

The Empress also seemed to be taking a much less hardline stance on the plague than Burrows had, as the paper mentioned dispensaries in quarantined zones,  indicating that she was helping the afflicted. It reported that the Empress had increased the elixir ration as a result of her previously ordering a mandatory increase in production. All this meant that this was possibly the first time in my entire life that I was actually in a good mood after reading the morning paper. My decision to save the Empress was yielding extremely positive results. It was a beautiful, sunny morning with the sunlight shimmering brilliantly on the river, and the smell of the sea in the breeze that gently blew over our little party. And I was on my way to do business along with the Whalers. Adventure in my head and excitement in my heart. 

I folded up the newspaper and put it one of my jacket pockets. We were heading east, towards the sea, again in two small motor boats. Billie and I were in one, while Daud and the novice, whose name was Jordan, took the other one. Now that I had put the paper away, the silence seemed a little awkward.

"So, we're going towards the coast." I said, after a few minutes.

"We're going to the New Port District. All the major trading companies operate from there." Billie replied.

"New Port District...because the Old Port District is quarantined?"

"No, the Old Port District stopped being a port district a long time back. After the whale oil boom, they moved closer to the sea. More area, bigger offices...The Old Port district has just some factories and distilleries now. But it did get quarantined recently. How did you know, was it in the newspaper?"

I shook my head slowly. Billie smirked. (She had her gas mask off)

The river was getting wider and wider and we turned left, sailing north, now. In the distance, I could see dozens of giant ships, all magnificent vessels that looked like trading galleys with numerous high masts and sails hanging limp in the gentle breeze (I love ships). Those were the docks, then. They were stuck there because of the blockade. The coast looked clear though (hee hee). When I heard the word 'blockade' in the intro, I pictured a wall on the sea, except the wall was made of big, imposing ships. 

We weren't going in that direction, however. We took another left, this time, into the sewers. The sewers full of rats that ate people, psychotic grannies (OK just one, and only occasionally at that), and like all sewers, feces. The _severe discomfort_ (not fear) must have shown on my face because Billie seemed amused.

"The witch is scared..." Billie remarked when I glared at her.

"I'm not technically a witch and I don't stand a chance against swarms of flesh-eating rats" I told her sternly. Then I realised what I had just said.

"It's alright." Billie said "Daud told me about you last night, after I tucked you in bed. Our little gift."

"Is that when he appointed you my nanny?"

"Actually, yes. You're a very important person, you know." she replied. I didn't know whether she was being sarcastic or not. "I wanted to ask you though, your...abilities. Were you born with them? There's no Mark on your hand."

_It's bullshitting time!_ "I've been having these visions for as long as I can remember. They're like dreams except much more vivid and detailed. Sometimes I have the same dreams over and over again, and sometimes I have different versions of the same dream. When I have these dreams, I just _know_ things after that. I don't really have much control over it."

"You know all about me then. You recognized me immediately last night. You must know all about me." Was she talking about her betrayal? Was she already planning it, or just contemplating it? 

"I wouldn't say I know everything about you. I know some things though. I know you had an alcoholic mother and a rough childhood. I know you had a lover named Deirdre. I know you killed the son of the Duke of Serkonos and became a fugitive after that. And I know about the circumstances that led you to join the Whalers."

"That's very impressive, witch." was her response, which sounded a little _too_ deadpan (I'm saying she was faking). I was not entirely certain that she was thinking about it (betraying Daud, I mean). Had she already met Delilah? Or maybe I was just being paranoid. I dismissed that last thought. It never hurts to be paranoid in video games. I decided to just sit on this subplot until it became too tough to do so. Daud and Billie didn't need this shit yet.

We (Billie) wound our way though the sewer tunnels, the earlier comfortable silence now replaced by something a little more uneasy (Quite apart from everything else, this whole experience was an education in the various flavours of silence). Billie Fucking Lurk was possibly scared of _me,_ and I was scared what she might do. And I was hoping for us to be friends...

Billie halted our party near a  metal grate. The boats were tied up to a convenient pole (maybe that's why she stopped there Ms Snide Remarks). "On foot from here" Billie said to me, putting her mask on. Jordan the novice followed suit.

"Do I get a mask?" I asked no one in particular.

"No," said Billie "witches don't get masks."

"I'm not a witch." I mumbled angrily.

"What was that?" Daud asked.

"Nothing." I said quickly.

We walked for a bit in really dark and scary sewer corridors (I'm a master of prose) before going through a door that led to a flight of stairs. Climbing up, we found ourselves in another tiny room and after that, blinking (with our eyes) in the sunny street, in the shadows cast by the by the stately buildings on either side. But we didn't linger there for long (or at all). Daud and Jordan blinked away at once. Billie took my hand in hers (she had gloves on, I don't know why I'm telling you that), and we blinked too. We were on the roof of one of the buildings. Daud was waiting. I looked around and found Jordan on the roof of the next building, motionless and crouched. 

"Here." said Daud, reaching into one of his pockets and offering me something. I accepted it. It was a spyglass.

"It's a spyglass." Daud informed me."You're going to watch from here as I meet my client. You're going to identify the client and tell my why they want the target dead."

"Who's the target?" 

"I'll tell you that when I get back. Time to see if you're worth all the trouble we took to rescue you." Before I could tell him that he broke me out, not rescued me, he disappeared and reappeared on the roof of the opposite building.

The events that followed made me look incredibly good. Even better than when I started and finished an assignment in school as the teacher was collecting it (This is my greatest accomplishment to date. I'm going to go cry about my life for a while). 

First, I looked at the building. It seemed to be closed. The building contained the offices of the Danforth Holding Company. It sounded familiar because it was mentioned in the audiograph on Arnold Timsh's table. According to the audiograph, Timsh couldn't touch them because they had links to the Boyles.

Then, I looked back up at the roof. Daud was waiting opposite the door, looking intimidating as ever. Jordan had moved to the other side of the street, next to the Danforth building, hiding behind that building's roof entrance, but not entirely. This was probably to up the intimidation factor. (Oh dearie me, Assassins are hiding here!). That was presumably the purpose Billie and I served as well. Especially me, I realised, with my grey jacket and wanted poster features (they'd probably only see the grey jacket and dark hair, but that would be enough).

Daud shifted his position, turning slightly. A woman pushed the door open. "Spyglass" Billie prompted me. I expanded it, or opened it up or whatever, and put it to my eye. The woman was dressed like an aristocrat and had ashen-blonde shoulder-length hair. and- let's save ourselves some trouble; it was Lady Boyle. The fun part was guessing _which_ one. It couldn't be Waverly because she was probably at her trial at that moment. That left Lydia and Esma. Unlike in the game, the spyglass didn't amplify sound. Lady Boyle and Daud seemed to be having a competition to see who could be the most expressionless and scary. Originally, my money would have been on Daud, but the competition was too close for me to commit to either one. Judging by the microscopic nods, the conversation seemed to be coming to an end. It was time to see who could make the most impressive exit. Here, Daud won hands down. He blinked onto Jordan's rooftop, fully behind the entrance. Lady Boyle didn't seem too fazed; She turned, glanced at Billie and me (I say this calmly but I was freaking out because SHE SAW ME) and then left, with an impeccable posture and elegant gait.

"So, Grey Witch," said Daud, materializing behind us, "Who was that?"

_I got this_. "Lady Boyle." I said with certainty.

Daud's face did not betray any awe he might have felt. " _Which one_?" he asked with certain _bite_ creeping into his tone.

_I don't got this_. "Lydia Boyle." I said with certainty that I did not actually possess. This was a pure coin toss. And if it didn't work out, I could tell him that I interpreted my vision wrong or something.

"She wants the lawyer, Arnold Timsh dead. She also wants every document in his safe. She won't tell me why" _Holy fuck, I was right?_ No time to rejoice; I had to think now.

"Waverly was Burrows' financial backer. She was going to fund his military. She's in prison now and she's going to be executed soon, she's as good as dead and Burrows, their biggest foothold in the government is gone too..."

"So, the Outsider has seen fit to give me a human newspaper." Daud quipped, if 'quipping' is something he 'does'.

A figurative light bulb flickered on over my head. "Has the Dead Counters' position been created yet?" I asked.

"No, what is that?." Daud frowned.

"Timsh is sitting on it right now, for sure. They're Watch Officers who officially deal with plague victims. But he's drafted some legislation that allows the state to immediately seize all property belonging to people with the plague...The Boyles would have been fine with it when Burrows was Regent, but now with both him and Waverly gone...they don't want Timsh to have that kind of power...that's what I think, anyway...."I finished lamely.

Daud considered all of this in silence. Then - "How well do you know the Legal District?"

"What, we're going now?" I exclaimed. Daud raised his eyebrows slightly. "I mean, yes, I know it. Well enough, anyway."

"Then let's go rob a lawyer." _Adventure!_

* * *

I won't bore you with the details of the journey to the Legal District, which was on the other side of town from where we were. It took a few hours to get there and by the time we reached, it was late in the afternoon. Everything lit by the sun had already taken on a golden tinge. Highlights of the journey included me getting hungry and eating canned meat, me wanting to pee but holding it in, and me being filled in on the backstory of this mission. Apparently Lady Boyle had been in correspondence with the Whalers for the past week with messages sent through a trail of people who all knew other people in an education on the degrees of separation, and the target was widely speculated to be Arnold Timsh. Today had merely been the confirmation of this and an attempt by Lady Boyle to dissuade Daud from prying into why she wanted Timsh gone, that had ultimately proved futile (because of me!). Thus, over the past few days, novices had been sent to the Legal District for the purpose of reconnaissance. Daud wasn't rushing into a mission gung-ho, relying only on the mysterious person that his ex-crush led him to for guidance. I was mildly disappointed, but secretly relieved.

We traveled along the waterfront via rooftop (after getting off the boat, of course). Billie and I were holding hands again so that I could blink with her. The place looked pretty much like it did in the game, except the sun was shining from the other direction and there was much less security and no walls of light, and the sky was prettier. However, I did get the sense that the place wasn't as bustling as it normally.

Things got interesting when we had to make our way into the Legal District proper. Jordan blinked his way down the road, from rooftop to rooftop. There were hardly any guards patrolling the street. We, however, were on the metal-grating of the balcony of Apartment 10. The door wasn't even locked. We stepped inside. The apartment was as dark and decrepit as ever.

"Wait," I said. Daud and Billie looked back at me. "What do you know about this place?"

"It's empty. And it has easy access to the Timsh Estate." Billie said. 

"There's a woman who lives here," I said "She's...a cultist. I've seen this place full of corpses of heretics with notes pinned to them. It was creepy."

"We'll keep an eye out for corpses then." Daud said dryly. _OK, fine. Don't say I didn't warn you._

We checked the other rooms in the flat, Daud and Billie with their knives and supernatural abilities and me following like a puppy minus the cuteness. (Or maybe not. It's subjective). There was a marked dearth of corpses in the flat but plenty of coins and elixir vials. Daud and Billie pocketed a lot of pocketables. I couldn't bring myself to do it though, and they weren't forcing me to take anything. But I didn't dare voice my opinions about looting ("These are their only possessions!", "That need that elixir to avoid contracting the fucking plague!") to the most notorious killer in the city and his second-in-command. 

Once the flat was swept clean of anything that was deemed worth taking (which wasn't that long), we blinked up to the Assassin outpost opposite the Timsh Estate, behind the billboard. I picked up the recon notes from the tray and scanned it. They didn't seem to be as detailed as I remembered.

"Billie and you are going to stay here and keep an eye on things." He turned to Billie, "You'll come for me at the slightest sign of trouble. We don't want any slip-ups." And then he turned to me, "Anything I should know?"

"I think Apartment 10 is the best way in. You'll have to deal with Timsh one way or another to get that key from him. He has a rune in a chest in his room that he probably won't miss. His bedroom's on the top floor, er, below the attic. His office is on the floor below. There'll be some _items of interest_ there too. And, er," I hesitated a little, but soldiered on, "Next to his bedroom, there's this locked door, you'll need the key...there might be a sculpture there, of a woman. If it's there, go and...talk to it..." It sounded silly even in my ears. Daud looked a bit perplexed, but it was Billie's reaction I was interested in. She was confused too. 

"You want me to talk to a statue." Daud repeated. It sounded even worse coming from him.

"I just have a feeling about this...if you don't want to do it, then don't..." I said helplessly.

Daud sighed, and picked up some of the ammo on the tray.

"How..." I started, "what are you going to do with him?"

"Don't you worry about that." he said with a tiny hint of asperity and blinked away. We saw him reappear on the balcony of Apartment 10. From there, he blinked onto the second floor (American: third floor) and we lost sight of him. I opened up the spyglass and trained it onto the second floor (American: third floor) balcony that faced us. I saw a guard walk past the balcony, but there was no sign of Daud. Sitting out there, under an orange-and-pink sky, with the breeze in my hair, and a beautiful supernatural assassin next to me, both of us waiting for another gorgeous killer-for-hire to assassinate someone in a huge fancy mansion...it turned out to be pretty boring, because of all the waiting. 

I was seriously considering having a conversation with Billie about her potential betrayal. This was the perfect time for it, it was just the two of us and we seemed to have some time on our hands. I was now more or less convinced that she didn't know who Delilah was, so I'd just be warning her about the Danger of Witches. It would be alright, I reasoned. She wouldn't get angry and shove me off the roof after pushing the spyglass into my eye. 

I was just about to drop the spyglass to have that extremely difficult conversation when something caught my eye. (It's this chapter's cliffhanger). There she was, coming closer and closer to the balcony, tall and pale. She pushed the doors open and leaned on the railing, taking in the evening air, admiring the pink sunset sky. Delilah Copperspoon.

"Who's that?" Billie asked with casual interest.

"You've got to get Daud back," I told her urgently "Get him back here now."

"Why?" _Stop asking questions and do as I say!_

"That woman...she's not good, he needs- he needs to get out of there _now_." I said shakily. I was truly scared of Delilah. Billie blinked away and I was all alone (except for Jordan who was presumably covering an alternate exit route or something). So, yeah, Delilah Copperspoon was in play. 

But psych! That wasn't the cliffhanger! Delilah was still leaning on the balcony, lost in nefarious thoughts, no doubt. So lost in thought, that she didn't notice Daud silently creeping up on her, approaching slowly, quietly, and then grabbing her by the neck to choke her out and gently pick her up. He glanced up at me peering at him around the billboard and nodded curtly at me. Only then did he turn around to see Billie, who was (obviously) too late. But that isn't the cliffhanger either.

It's this: The rattling sound of a vehicle. The rail car. I moved my spyglass to the front of the estate, to the tracks. There, it was, an ugly wannabe vintage car/Combine vehicle-thing pulling up at the end of the track. _General Turnbull?_  Had events changed so much that the General had to make this visit six months earlier? The rail car slowed to a halt and the door swung open. It wasn't General Turnbull. Standing under the darkening purple sky, his long coat billowing in the breeze, all by his lonesome, was Corvo Attano.

And that's the cliffhanger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Cliffhangers! Also, Apartment 10 doesn't have an Outsider shrine yet, the cultist hasn't built one so far! Oh and please try and overlook any grammar and punctuation errors, I suck at proof-reading...  
> 2\. Hope you're liking the fic so far!  
> 3\. Thanks to everyone who's left kudos and comments so far, it really means a lot to me!


	6. Imminent Migraine

Corvo had finished drinking in the splendour of the Legal District (or whatever prompted him to stand dramatically after getting out of the rail car), and was now making his way into the house. On the balcony, Billie was telling Daud to get out of the house. I stepped out from the cover of the billboard and waved frantically at Billie. I caught her attention and Daud's as well, and pointed at the front of the Estate. They inched forwards in time to see Corvo climb up the front steps. They exchanged a glance and quickly retreated back inside, shutting the balcony doors this time, even though they were made of glass.

"Get up, time to go," Billie was right next to me. I put the spyglass in a pocket in my coat and took her hand. We blinked into Apartment 10. The dingier part of it. Daud was waiting there. He did not look pleased.

"There better be a good reason for this." he growled at me. "I took out most of Timsh and most of the guards. Got the key and the rune, and the papers in his quarters. But before I could get the documents from the office, someone with more importance than me decided that I needed to leave. So, I repeat, there better be a good fucking reason."

My legs turned to very wobbly jelly. "The woman, Delilah, what did you do with her?"

"I hid her," he said impatiently "I hid all of them."

"So...so this means that Corvo is going to go upstairs to meet Timsh, and he's going to find the whole place absolutely deserted...and, and, if he looks under a table or something, he's going to find five unconscious guards? He'll know you're here, he'll come looking for us and- "

"Daud," Billie broke in. "We need to go- " Daud silenced her with a glare.

"I don't care that he knows I'm here," Daud said approaching me threateningly. "I don't care if he finds three guards knocked out in the bathtub. Let him see them," I was backing away from him and wound up leaning against a damp, mouldy wall. "The name, Delilah, it sounds familiar. Who is she?"

I wondered Corvo's appearance here meant that he had spoken to Jessamine about getting Marked and the Outsiders three gifts. Jessamine would have told Corvo all about Delilah, using all the connections available to him at the tower, he would have found out that she and Timsh were lovers (or whatever, I didn't really want to know what the deal was and I still don't). Somehow I hadn't expected Corvo to be resourceful. But this had to be what transpired, didn't it?

All this thinking happened in the space of five seconds, with Daud a little over a foot away from me, glaring at me menacingly. But five seconds was too much for him.

"I asked you a question," His voice got quieter, raspier and even more threatening "Who. Is. She."

I opened my mouth to answer, not sure where to start. That's when all hell broke loose.

Behind Daud, in a corner, a pile of rags on a saggy, stained mattress suddenly stood up shrinking hysterically.

"IIIINNNNTRRRUUUUUDDDEEERRRRRRRRR" the figure shrieked (that's what I got out of that poor enunciation, anyway), shaking off the rags, revealing that she had long matted, flyaway hair, and was, in an amusing coincidence, dressed in rags.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she wailed, stumbling with agility towards Daud, who was also moving towards her. She lunged at him, in a deeply misguided attempt to surprise him. He stabbed her in the belly, and flung her to the floor with a loud thud, blood gurgling out of her mouth.

Then I, who had never seen anything remotely close to this level of violence in my whole entire life, lost my shit. "Oh my god...you...you stabbed her...she's...dead...there's...she..." I remember saying, my voice utterly devoid of emotion, trying not to look at the corpse in front of me, with blood pooling on the ground, blood trickling out of its mouth, and failing miserably.

As if from far away, I could hear footsteps, someone running.

"Billie, he's coming, shut the damn door." Daud told Billie, his voice completely even. Billie rushed to close the balcony door, and slammed it shut. "Daud, I think he saw us." she said urgently.

I was still leaning against the wall, shaking violently.

Daud turned to me. "We need to leave right now." I looked at him numbly.

And then out of nowhere, he stabbed me in the neck, and I could feel him holding me as I fell, with everything going black.

* * *

 Something was prodding into my hip. It stung a lot. I opened my eyes and then winced. It was blindingly bright. Sunlight was streaming through the ceiling. There wasn't much of a ceiling at all.

I shifted slightly and moved a hand to my hip. Something in jacket was poking into my hip. The spyglass. I fumbled with the jacket to pull it out.

"Oh, you're awake. How do you feel?" Billie Lurk said, appearing out of thin air. Slowly, and with a little groaning, I sat up. I was in Daud's office. On his bed. The mattress was hard.

With some effort, and a lot more groaning, I got to my feet. My head was aching.

"Let's go downstairs," Billie said "Can you walk?"

"Yeah" I grunted.

I ambled down the stairs, clutching the railing, convinced that I might actually break it. I felt extremely groggy. It made everything feel like a dream.

Daud was at his desk. There were chairs around that desk. He looked up as I successfully descended the staircase.

"Take a seat," he said, gesturing to one of the empty chairs in front of the desk "Please."

I did so, not entirely sure what was happening.

"Will you have some coffee? Or something stronger, maybe. You have a fondness for whiskey, I know- "

"Coffee's good, thanks." I slurred, really confused now. This didn't seem real at all.

"Billie, get her some coffee." Billie blinked to the wide doors at the end of the room and caught hold of a Whaler just outside.

"Go get us coffee," I heard her say to him "Two cups." I turned around to face Daud again.

"Thought you might be interested in this," he said pushing some paper towards me. Was he smiling? If so, it was too faint to tell.

I looked at the paper. It was a wanted poster for me, offering a bounty of ten thousand coins. They wanted me alive, which gave me some comfort. The drawing didn't look much like me, though.

"That looks just like you." Billie remarked, angling the chair next to me so she could look at both me and Daud.

"Ten thousand, that's impressive for a first-timer," Daud said in what he seemed to think was an encouraging tone.

An extremely long pause followed.

"You must have a lot of questions about what happened, back in the Legal District," Daud finally said "I injected you with a sleep dart. We needed to move fast and you didn't seem to be able to do that by yourself. I regret having to resort to such extreme measures, but we couldn't risk leaving you behind."

"You stabbed me," I said hoarsely, with outrage "Just, out of the blue, you stabbed me..."

"No, " Daud countered, with extremely fake patience "I injected you with- "

"Oh, coffee's here," Billie said and walked up to the door where a novice was carrying two mugs. Daud fell silent. She took the mugs and had the novice shut the door from outside. She walked back to us and set the mugs on the table. The coffee was absolutely black.

"Want some milk with that?" Billie inquired politely. I shook my head.

"That's how I take my coffee too." she smiled I had no response for that. I took a sip of the coffee. It was hot and bitter (like Daud!) and made me instantly feel a thousand times better. As a rule, coffee always made me feel better and being trapped in a fictional universe, sipping it side-by-side with a ruthless paid killer while her boss was apologizing for drugging me was no exception.

"I also regret the manner in which I inquired about Delilah, " Daud continued "It may have caused you some fright and impaired your ability to answer simple questions" He was trolling me. He had to be, it was the only thing that made sense. "I want you to know," he added, "You can speak freely to me. Whatever's in that vision-riddled mind of yours. Billie does it all the time."

"That's true. " Billie smirked.

"So, I want to ask you about Delilah again. I went through those notes you made in the Tower," Daud said, leaning forward ever so slightly. So now he had read all my drunken, stir-crazy ramblings. "You have a terrible handwriting. But you mentioned Delilah, and referred to her as 'another rabbit hole to get fucked in'. What did you mean by that?"

Hearing Daud say ' another rabbit hole to get fucked in' like that, loosened my already weakening grip on reality. I decided to stop questioning what was happening and to just go with it.

"Delilah Copperspoon is the leader of a coven of witches." I said. This was going to be a long speech. "She and her coven live in Brigmore Manor, outside the city. She's Marked by the Outsider and she can possess people through paintings and can inhabit sculptures of herself. That's why I wanted you to talk to that sculpture. She talks through her sculptures. And she's bewitching Timsh right now, or possessing him, or something. After Jessamine died, she was going to possess Emily through a painting and become Empress. Oh, I forgot to tell you, she and Jessamine were childhood friends but then something happened and Delilah was banished from Dunwall Tower. So now she hates the Empress and her family."

Daud and Billie looked at me bemusedly. I should probably drop the bombshell. If I was giving them a synopsis of the Daud DLCs, I should do it thoroughly.

"That's not all though," I said, as a bit of hesitation crept into my voice "Delilah somehow got you," I turned to Billie "Billie, I mean, to betray you. And then Delilah told the Overseers about this place and they came to attack. Billie was hoping to be the leader. Delilah was hoping you'd die. But that didn't happen. Billie gets banished, and you stop Delilah and save Emily, but no one knows you did that. That's why I didn't really want you to see Delilah."

The silence that befell us was now of a shocked nature. Daud and Billie were looking at each other with something resembling horror. After a few moments, I addressed them again.

"The thing is, " I said, trying to sound more calm and gentle, "Daud, all this happened after you killed the Empress. Right after you did that, the Outsider just gave you the name Delilah, and you became obsessed trying to uncover what that meant. Billie and the other Assassins thought you were losing your grip. They were wrong, but you couldn't really blame them..." I took a pause. "All the, the visions I've had, they're all based on you killing the Empress. And everyone suffered for it. Everyone. You most of all, I think. That's why I stopped you. From killing her, I mean."

"The Outsider didn't ask you to do that, then." He said slowly.

"No," I replied "I did that by myself." I meant to say 'I did that because I wanted to' but that sounded too melodramatic. We exchanged a Meaningful Look.

Then - "Go back to your room," Daud said to me. "I need to have a word with Billie."

I nodded, rising out of the chair. Then I realised, I'd not touched the coffee after that first sip, so I took the mug with me. I looked at Billie. She'd been silent since I'd told them about Delilah. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I gave her an encouraging smile, and to my delight, she gave me a faint smile.

Emotionally exhausted from all that talking, and not that great physically either because of the drugging, I made my way back to the room.

The room they'd given me was tiny and cramped. But now, it also seemed cozy. I grabbed one of the books off the cabinet and sat myself on the bed cross-legged, flipping through it, sipping on the lukewarm coffee. The book I'd grabbed was Daughter Of Tyvia, I'm embarrassed to say (but at least I'm being honest, right?).

The mug had been long-drained of coffee and I was well into my academic research on erotic plays when the door swung open without warning, behind which stood Daud. I slammed the book shut immediately and tossed it away. It hit the wall.

Daud stepped into the room, pretending to ignore that little incident standing awkwardly once he realised there was no place he could sit.

"Have you seen what becomes of me?" he asked. He wasn't one for beating around the bush, then.

"In my vision," I said, thinking about how every time I played Dishonored, it was in low chaos "You were so racked with guilt that you were basically waiting for Corvo to hunt you down and exact his revenge. But he spared you. Since, by then, you were disillusioned with the whole assassination thing, you went into exile after that. Probably to Serkonos."

Daud processed this information.

"I'd be lying," he said slowly, "If the thought of leaving this wretched city behind me hadn't crossed my mind before. But even if I were to do that, there's some loose ends I need to tie up."

"Like what?"

"Delilah...there's something about her that's not right." Oh really, I snarked snarkily in my head. "At the Timsh Estate, I went into the room you said the sculpture would be in. There was a rune there. And, it was full of paintings and sketches of the Empress. The walls were covered in them. It almost felt like they were watching me"

"Do you think she's...planning something?" I asked euphemistically. (I meant to say 'Is she planning to off Jess?")

"I don't know," Daud rasped "But we're going to find out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1, This was another fun chapter to write. I had to run the whole thing over in my head a lot to make sure it sounded natural and I hope it sounds natural. Everything I wrote, I could imagine Daud and Billie saying, so if nothing else, I've got a pretty decent imagination, at least.  
> 2\. I'm not sure if you can tell, but this chapter is supposed to be a little more...comedic because Daud feels bad about not treating the person the Outsider has implied is going to help him on his quest for redemption. So Self Insert gets coffee.  
> 3\. I was a bit worried about Daud and Billie being OOC, but then I realised that they actually have to be at least a little different. Daud's a lot less consumed by rage and regret and is still an effective leader, which means the thought of betraying him (soon) has not crossed Billie's mind. After Daud sends Self Insert away, he and Billie have a talk about how they can both trust each other and Billie says he's going to be older before she betrays him and even then, she'll keep him around for advice.  
> 4\. I've had a break from college for the past week which is why I've been updating this frequently. But break's getting over tomorrow, so the gap between updates is going to get bigger.  
> 5\. Thanks to everyone who left kudos here, it means a lot to me. And please let me know what you think about this fic so far. This is the farthest I've ever gone with a fic and I'm really proud of myself for not giving up so far, but I also want to know if what I'm doing is actually good. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you like the fic so far!


	7. Heartfelt

 

Daud had just finished saying that we would be finding out if Delilah was up to no good. He had said nothing after that. A few minutes of dramatic silence later, he turned to leave the tiny room.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked him. He was at the door when he turned around.

"We're going to Brigmore Estate," he said. You'll be able to tell us if she's planning something, right?"

"Yes, definitely." I said, trying to fake certainty. Daud nodded and left.

I'd only be able to confirm that Delilah was planning to kill or possess Jessamine if she was going to resort to the same ritual she'd used in the game. And it did seem likely, considering the creepy room full of paintings of Jessamine that Daud had only just told me about. But if it wasn't, the Empress could lose her life. I wasn't confident of accurately predicting what was going to happen next anymore. I wanted to go home.

I snapped out of it. _No point thinking useless thoughts_. I realised that Daud hadn't told me what to do. I was reasonably sure I was free to roam the Chamber Of Commerce building, but the idea did not appeal to me because the place seemed unsafe and its people dangerous.

_He'll call if he needs me_ , I thought and I sat on the bed again, leaning against the window.  _The Daughter Of Tyvia_ was on the floor. I picked it up and continued from where I left off.

Unfortunately, like last time, I was interrupted again.

I was getting to one of the juicier (ew) parts when the door violently flung open. This time, the man behind the door was none other than Corvo Attano. He started to say something, but I didn't let him be heard.

"HELP! THERE'S AN INTRUD- CORVO ATTANO IS HERE!" I yelled. Corvo looked exactly the way I felt when I fell off a building while trying to blink in _Dishonored_. 

"I'm not here to hurt you." Corvo said quietly. A Whaler materialized in front of Corvo and extracted a length of rope from somewhere on his uniform. Corvo calmly turned around and kept his hands behind his back. I got up from the bed and we made our way to Daud's office, without a word. It only occurred to me later that I hadn't even bothered to hide _The Daughter Of Tyvia_ this time.

* * *

They'd tied Corvo to a chair and placed the chair in front of Daud's desk. Billie Lurk stood at the foot of the staircase, next to the giant cabinet. A Whaler (I like to think it was Thomas) stood at the exit behind the desk. There were maybe half a dozen more Whalers standing motionless at various (presumably) strategic points at both levels of the room.

Daud leaned against the front of his desk, his eyes boring into Corvo's. Corvo returned the gaze with equal intensity. It was tense, but at the same time, quite silly. Nothing was happening. I couldn't take it any longer.

"Corvo," I said, as calmly as I could. Nine pairs of eyes (counting the gas masks) became fixed on me. "Are you here to arrest me?"

"No," Corvo said with an equally even and unemotional voice "I'm just here to talk to you. That's it. One conversation, and then I'm gone."

That sounded quite reasonable to me. Daud, surprisingly seemed to think so too.

"Everybody out," he said and the Assassins began to leave at once. "Billie, you stay." Billie hadn't moved in the first place.

Corvo seemed to have been granted his request quite easily. _He feels guilty, even though he didn't do it._  Or maybe he was lulling Corvo into a false sense of security. I wasn't the greatest at guessing character motivations. (I'm still not)

Now, it was only Corvo, Daud, Billie and me.

"So," Daud frowned at Corvo "What do you want to say to her?"

"I have a question. Who is _Delilah_?"

Billie and I groaned audibly. Daud smirked a little. Corvo looked perplexed at this sudden outburst.

I had a question of my own.

"Have you told the Empress...about..." I gestured to the back of my hand.

"Yes. She knows. Before I go any further, I'm sure you're aware that...I'm more than just the Empress's bodyguard, Jessamine and I...we- "

"Yes, we know." Daud interrupted, mercifully. He looked a little exasperated now.

"Alright then," Corvo said, trying to play it cool "So yes, I have told Jessamine about my new _abilities,_ and the dreams, about you and Delilah. Jessamine told me that she'd heard that name before, that Delilah was a friend of her's when they were girls. But she died tragically, when she was a child. That night, this was the night before last, the Outsider, in a dream, told me about Arnold Timsh. So I paid him a visit. Except," Corvo sighed "when I got there, the house was empty. Not a soul in sight. I went up to his chambers and found him knocked out on the bed. But the room next to his bedroom..."

"It was full of paintings of the Empress." Daud finished for Corvo.

"And it seemed...like they were watching me...I heard whispering, even though no one was there. Delilah isn't dead, is she?"

"No, she's not." I said to him. And then I told him how Delilah was indeed a childhood friend of Jessamine's but she hadn't died, but had been banished from the tower owing to some unknown incident and now hated the Kaldwin family.

"I think you really need to talk to Jessamine about this." I finished. Corvo looked stunned. I realised that I'd never really talked to him about _Dishonored_ when I was imprisoned in the tower.

"She has visions of the past, present and future." Billie helpfully explained.

"No," Corvo said "I think _you_ need to talk to her about it." There was a pause again, in which I was once again annoyed by these dramatic-sounding sentences that were devoid of any real details. Daud leaned forward slightly and he was frowning again. More than usual, I mean.

"Are you maybe forgetting that there's a price on my head?" I asked him in my calm-but-really-I'm-angry voice.

"You don't need to worry about that. We'll sneak you in. I told you earlier, Jessamine knows who you are now. She won't do anything to you, not when we tell her we know Delilah is alive. Her life's in danger." This was it, Corvo was going to say _please_. I didn't want him to plead to  _me_ , so - 

"Fine," I said, "I'll go speak to Je- The Empress."

"Not fine." Daud declared "You're not going anywhere." 

"Daud," Billie said, "she should go. Delilah...I want her dead. We could make this work out for us." Daud glowered at her. This had to be about the conversation they'd had earlier today. I looked at Billie questioningly, but she just shook her head at me.

"If she's going to Dunwall Tower," Daud said to Corvo "We're going with her too."

I hated them talking about me like I wasn't there, or was some toy that gave useful exposition whenever you wound it up. I also hated that I couldn't go where I wanted to. I wasn't a Whaler, however much I tried to pretend otherwise. I was Daud's prisoner and an increasingly useless exposition fairy. 

"How will we get into the tower?" I asked, "You're wanted for the attempted murder of the Empress. I'm wanted for breaking out of there. And they'll probably arrest Billie, to complete the fucking set!"

Billie chuckled appreciatively. Daud, however, was not amused.

"They've never seen Billie's face, so all she has to do is drop the Whaler mask. I can go in disguise and you...no one will ever recognize you without that coat." he said. That last part sounded almost venomous. Daud seemed a little to eager to go back to Dunwall Tower, and it made me feel uneasy.

"Disguises," I repeated, "You mean, like, Overseer uniforms or something..."

Daud didn't answer. He turned to Corvo.

"We leave in one hour" he said "Grey Witch here, can keep you company. The two of you can _talk_ " he said, leaving the room, with Billie following in his wake. The doors slammed shut and then, Corvo and I were alone.

I dragged a chair over to where Corvo was, so I was facing him (sort of). He was as handsome as ever, with his hair and his face and the really cool coat (it wasn't billowing dramatically in the wind, but it looked nice). He'd been the only one on my side, when they arrested me, on the first day. It seemed like a million years ago.

"I wanted to tell you," I said to his lap (I couldn't look him in the eye for this) "that I'm really sorry about that break-out. You must have gotten into a lot of trouble for that, you know, as Royal Protector, and I'm- "

"Stop," Corvo said, gently. "It's not your fault that they broke you out. Do you think that if you'd said 'no', they would have just gone back? You were going to leave that cell one way or another. It was out of your control."

"I guess it was," I responded bitterly, "I thought that maybe, if I'd tried hard enough, scared them enough with the prophetess-witch routine, they might have...No," I said, shaking my head and smiling, even though I was sad "They can sniff out lies, and I'm a bad liar. I'm a bad everything. I have no real power, my _visions_ are becoming more and more useless, I'm not free...I'm utterly useless." I said, a little ashamed of how much I was whining.

Corvo didn't seem to think so, however.

"When I first talked to you, I was very suspicious of you, and you can't blame me, given the week I was having. Jessamine almost killed, Emily almost kidnapped, a huge conspiracy, me getting Marked...you were just another person to distrust. But after you were taken...the Outsider, he talked about you often. You're not from here are you?"

I didn't know what he meant by _here_  but wherever he meant, I was definitely not from there, so I shook my head.

"He said, that your coming here was an accident, and that the very first thing you wanted to do when you got here was to save Jessamine. No one told you to do that. You saved my family. And you did it because you're a kind, brave person. I will never be able to repay you for what you've done for us. You're not useless. Not to me, anyway."

That speech was exactly what I needed to hear, what with my growing sense of homesickness and powerlessness. For the first time in six years, I sobbed openly in front of another person. I buried my face in my hands and cried and cried, heaving, ugly, wretched sobs. After a minute or so, I got a grip on myself and stopped. As I blew my nose on my sleeve, I realised that Corvo had been trying to console me from his chair. I felt a huge rush of affection for the trash assassin rat dad I saw in front of me, not the romantic kind, but the protective, fierce rush that made me determined to not see Jessamine die. I would endure, and I would go home.

"I'm really sorry about that," I told him, still sniffling a little "I feel...the stress of the past week..."

"I understand," Corvo smiled "I think we've all had our share of tears, the past few days."

"Can I ask you a question?" A chill went through my insides again. 

"Yes, of course." 

"Has the Outsider said anything about me going back home, after this?"  _Be prepared, we'll find a way even if he says..._

"I'm really sorry," he said, and my heart sank "He hasn't. But that doesn't mean anything...you know how he is...speaking in riddles. We'll find a way."

That was nice of him. I managed a smile.

"And even if we can't, Jessamine and I will take care of you. We'll clear your name. You can live with us, until you're grown up."

"I'm twenty years old."

"Oh." he said.

I quickly changed the subject and asked him how efforts to combat the plague were going. He said that things were as bad as they'd been last week. I told him that maybe that was a good thing because at least things aren't getting worse. We shared a laugh at that, not because we'd found what I said funny; but because he was tied to a chair, and I was a cosmic plaything and laughing eased the pain of that knowledge.

The remainder of the hour passed by quickly enough. Corvo was calm, funny and easy to talk to. By the end of the hour, I felt extremely awful about all the times I'd fucked up playing as Corvo and sent him to his death.

At the end of the hour (I'm guessing), the doors swung open and Daud and Billie strode in, both in Overseer uniforms. They didn't look ridiculous, but it was jarring to see them dressed like that. I found myself suppressing laughter. They hadn't even put the masks on yet.

"We're going to untie you now," Daud said, "If you try anything, lead us into a trap, we will escape and we will come back for revenge. You don't want me as an enemy." I sincerely hoped that Corvo felt the same way too.

"You," Daud said to me, because he didn't know my real name "Take that coat off and put this on." He tossed me a coat. It was black. I took off the grey jacket and put the black one on. I put the grey jacket on a chair. It felt like saying goodbye to a friend. Would I still be the Grey Witch?

"Hey, Grey Witch, let's go." Billie said, answering my question.

We got to the river, actually a canal that led to the river in a bigger boat that seated the four of us comfortably. Dunwall Tower was on the opposite side of the river and to the left. It took an hour of painfully strained silence to cross the river, but we made it. 

Overhead, the gulls were wailing in the afternoon sunlight as other boats made their way along the river. The waterlock was looming over us. Daud and I exchanged a glance. We were back at Dunwall Tower, for the Empress. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. The end is near! I think there's around four or five chapters left in this [EDIT: You're wrong past me, it's just three!], so buckle up (or breathe sighs of relief "Thank god it's getting over!")  
> 2\. Thanks for sticking around for so long.  
> 3\. This chapter was a little hard to write. It's becoming harder for me to stay motivated to finish writing, but I have never made it this far with a fic and I definitely want this one to be my first completed fic.  
> Anyway, thanks for reading and hope you like it so far!


	8. None Like Her

 

 

 

True to Corvo's word, Jessamine Kaldwin did not have us arrested. She was gracious and grateful. And most importantly, she didn't have us thrown in jail. But let's rewind a little to how we got into the tower.

Essentially, our journey from the waterlock to Dunwall Tower was uneventful. Daud and Billie's Overseer uniforms meant our little party aroused virtually no suspicion. No one even looked at me (because I'd ditched my grey jacket). I _knew_ the wanted poster drawing didn't look like me at all.

Once we were inside, (through the main door this time!) Corvo told us that we would be meeting the Empress on the roof of the building and helpfully gave us directions. Since I'm a smartass, I reminded him that I already knew the way. Unfortunately, the joke didn't really land and Corvo didn't acknowledge my remark,instead going to get Jessamine.

So it was that a not-suspicious-at-all, maybe-servant-maybe-not (me) was escorting two fake Overseers into that little prayer room on the first floor...not! Instead we went past that room and then up a flight of stairs and then another flight of stairs and then yet _another_ after that- we went up a ton of stairs until we _finally_ made it to the roof. I was out of breath by the time we made it up there. Daud and Billie weren't. They took their masks off, probably glad for the feel of the late afternoon breeze on their faces. Now, we had to wait.

"Billie, what were you talking about earlier? About this Delilah business 'working in your favour' or something?' I asked after what felt like a whole minute of agonizing.

Daud and Billie exchanged a look.

It was Daud who answered. 

"I'm retiring." he rasped, as if it explained everything.

"That's...good," I said, in a tone you'd use for a small child that you were humouring. " _When?_ " I inquired, with a little irritation in my voice (But not much, I'm scared of Daud).

"I've had enough of this way of life," Daud said, for some reason under the impression that I'd asked _why_ he was retiring and not _when_. I had a pretty good idea when it came to _why_. And _where._  "I keep thinking," he continued "about what might have happened if I murdered the Empress. You were right, I would have regretted it. I don't have the energy to care about this shit anymore. And I want out before I do something to fuck things up more."

"Daud-" Billie said, but he didn't let her finish.

"Billie wants to go with me, she's threatening to tell the others, says they'll all follow me when I go. I want her to stay back, take my place."

"It won't, it isn't going to work out like that," I told both of them "If you leave, the Whalers won't be able to use their powers. They need you for that. So even if Billie leads them, they won't have their abilities anymore..."

This was clearly not the news either of them had been hoping for (although deep down, they surely knew this) Before they could express their displeasure, however, the Empress and Corvo finally came up.

Jessamine greeted me with a warm smile and thanked me for coming. Her smile faded when it came to Billie and Daud, but she nodded politely at them, and they did the same, minus the smiles.

Jessamine took my hand in both of hers. "I want you to know," she said, looking straight into my eyes "how grateful I am for what you've done for me and for Emily. I will never be able to repay you. I'm truly sorry about your arrest. You have to understand, it was a time of extreme uncertainty and suspicion. It won't be easy to clear your name as of now, but in a month's time maybe, it might come to light that you were an innocent, a young girl who heard something she wasn't supposed to, and immediately alerted the Empress, saving her life...and then, you'll be rewarded."

Since I'd only played the game as Corvo who was in love with Jessamine, and Daud who was consumed with regret because he'd murdered her, I realised that my impression of Jessamine as a character was coloured by the thoughts of these two men. Meeting her in person, I was immediately struck by how regal and dignified she was. This stateliness coupled with her inherent kindness...she truly was an empress. I felt a surge of emotion, validation of my decision to save her. I knew I did the right thing there. No regrets.

"Corvo tells me that you wish to speak with me about Delilah." her smile and earnest look faded somewhat, replaced by something a little less soft. "I told Corvo that she died when she was young. She isn't dead. I lied. You might wonder why. It's something that my family tried to keep quiet for a very long time, but I suppose I owe Corvo the truth, at least. And you, if you think Delilah Copperspoon poses a threat to my life. Devoting energy to hiding secrets is pointless if Emily is in danger's way. However, what I am about to tell you is in the strictest confidence, and I trust that you will not repeat this to anyone." 

We all murmured our assurances and waited for her to continue. The Empress was extremely well-spoken, and where a lesser person (me) might have drowned in the potential awkwardness of this situation, Jessamine casually brushed it aside, and continued with grace and elegance. If you can't already tell, I'm squeeing like crazy about her. She's awesome.

"Delilah Copperspoon was a baker's apprentice in Dunwall Tower." Jessamine said "She was a year older than me and was my friend and companion for as long as I can remember. She was always willful and pigheaded. I never thought it odd that a baker's apprentice had the privilege of being a companion to the heir, although I should have. The 'incident' that you and Corvo refer to, took place when I was ten. We were playing together as we often did, when Delilah dared me to sit on my father's throne, in the throne room. Only the reigning emperor or empress can sit on the throne. My father, the Emperor, would not have really minded, but it all seemed so terribly exciting to us, breaking the law. I was very nervous, so I dared Delilah to go first. And she was impetuous enough to do it."

Jessamine sighed sadly.

"So, Delilah sat on the throne. My nervousness melted away and soon I was yelling at her, pulling at her arm so I could have my turn. We were both laughing and shrieking. That's when my mother caught us. My mother had never liked Delilah and for her, this was the final straw. The guards called for my father. My mother wanted Delilah whipped, the traditional punishment for this transgression. Delilah was furious. I had never seen her like that. In her rage, she revealed the secret that my family had kept from the world and from me; that Delilah was my half-sister. She wasn't just the baker's apprentice, she was the baker's daughter. Delilah went mad with rage. She screamed that the throne was hers by rights, because she was older than me, and that if she was going to be whipped, then I should be, too. As the guards dragged her away, she screamed that she had always hated me and that she would get her revenge. The last thing she ever said to me was that I had stolen everything from her. She was indeed whipped afterwards, and then thrown out onto the street. She was eleven.

"Her mother was sacked immediately. I finally understood my mother's dislike for Delilah and why she, a baker's apprentice, had been allowed to spend time with me. Her threats of revenge upset me greatly, but nothing came of that. That's why I told you that she was dead, Corvo. It's easier to say that she's dead than to have to relive old pain. I never heard from her after that. However, now with the assassination attempt and conspiracy, she may have sensed a weakness. But she is mistaken. I'm stronger than I ever was, and with Corvo by my side, she won't be able lay a finger on me."

The last part was delivered in the same precise, calm style of the Empress, but there was a menacing bite under the surface. _I'm stronger than I ever was,_  she said. I brushed the thought aside. _You're being paranoid._  Then I remembered how paranoia almost always pays off in video games and I stopped trying to brush the thought aside. There was nothing I could do about it, however. I was scared of the Empress, too.

"Your Majesty," I said to her "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Delilah is a witch. She is one of the Marked."

"I've been informed of this by Corvo." The Empress said. She was clearly unhappy about this development. 

"So," the Empress said to me "what do you recommend we do about Delilah?"

"We need to confront her, go to Brigmore Manor," In my eagerness to get the words up, I jumbled the order of things to do, but hopefully everyone understood what I meant. "All her art needs to be destroyed, that's how she controls people. And Emily should be watched. Constantly. Speaking of which, where is she now, might I inquire?"

"She's with her tutor." Corvo told me. Poor girl, lessons in the evening. That didn't sound much like Emily.

"We'll go and see her after this. I want you to meet her." The Empress said. "But before that, there's another matter I want to clear up." She turned to Daud and Billie, who had been silent since the Empress made her entrance and seemed to be doing their level best to not draw excess attention to themselves.

"I'm entirely aware," she said glaring at them "of the degree of your involvement in the plot to assassinate me and kidnap my daughter. I know that you had some misgivings about the murdering me in front of my child. But I do not forgive you for this, It's only because of this young woman here," she gestured at me "that I'm not having you thrown in prison. I want you to tell me why you're here. Why do you care about Delilah?"

Daud looked into the Empress's eyes.

"Killing you would have been the biggest mistake I ever made. I lie awake at night, wondering how it all might have turned out. It haunts me. _You_ haunt me. I'm leaving the city soon. But before I go, I want to make amends, to you, to your family, to your city. It won't be enough to make up for what I've done, but I'll do anything if it can ease my mind." An almost awed silence followed Daud's speech.

_Holy shit, Daud's on a redemption quest_. Everyone else seemed taken aback too. Daud was right though, this wasn't going to make up for all the killing he'd done, it was only to give him some peace of mind.

Daud was still looking straight at Jessamine with an unusual amount of intensity, even for him. _None like her..._ was that because of the effect her death had on Dunwall, pushing him over the guilt cliff, or was there even more to that...the shipper in me was delighted, but once again, I pushed the thought aside. It was none of my business. Billie seemed to notice Daud's gaze too and she didn't look very thrilled about it. This was too much for me, so I didn't even try to process that. All of this took only about three or four seconds, so it wasn't as weird as I'm making it out to be. 

The Empress wasn't perturbed. "Come, I want you to meet Emily." she said "The two of you can stay up here. I'll send for you when we're finished." Daud nodded and Corvo, Jessamine and I left the roof. The sun was low in the sky, painting everything gold. On the other side, however, threatening-looking clouds seemed to be building up. _Oh great,_  I thought, _foreshadowing._  (I can be pithy too).

* * *

Dunwall Tower was as ornate and imposing as I remembered, the lack of security devices everywhere making it look even more regal, but somehow more intimidating. We walked to the residence area, which looked a little different. It was larger, grander and there weren't any convenient chandeliers in the corridors. Guards, soldiers and the staff all bowed or curtsied as the Empress walked passed them. She would greet them too, and like any good (i.e. popular) monarch, made small talk with many of them, inquiring about their health, their families' health, and some other stuff that I don't remember (it had to do with health, though).

Finally, in an elegant, wood-paneled corridor, Jessamine and Corvo stopped in front of a set of doors.

"This is where Emily has her lessons," Jessamine told me, as she knocked on the door. There was no reply, so she pushed one of the doors open, revealing a spacious room with large floor-to-ceiling windows, a blackboard, two desks, two chairs and some cabinets against the wall that had assorted books and papers in them.

There was, however, no Emily.

As you can guess from the melodrama of the previous sentence, I did not think that this was a good sign. What was that quote? _It's not paranoia if you're right_.

Corvo seemed to be reacting in the same way. "Emily?" he called out, hurrying into the room, looking here and there, as if he would find her hiding somewhere.

"She's probably just escaped from her lessons again. She's done this before. She asks the tutor if he'd like some coffee or tea, and then she offers to go to the kitchen to see to it herself except later, we find her outside, trying to climb the building...you know what she's like, Corvo." Jessamine said, trying to calm him down.

Corvo didn't respond. He walked slowly to where we were standing, clutching a piece of paper tightly. He wordlessly gave it to Jessamine. I looked over her shoulder as she read. This was what the paper said:

  
_Pretty Emily_ 's _lost her way_

_You won't find her, search all day_

_She'll sob and weep and cry for mother_

_One Empress dead, say hello to another_

_The rightful owner of the throne_

_The flowers that she's sown and grown_

_A walking storm raining down your fears_

_I'll see you all drown in your tears_  

 

Jessamine didn't look calm anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Holy shit, it was fun to write Jessamine! I'm even more angry that they killed her off now because she had so much potential and now she's just 'dead mom'...ugh...  
> 2\. I've always mildly shipped Daud/Jessamine because of the respect he seemed to have for her beyond just 'Oh no, I killed a woman', he's like 'She was the only person holding the city together' and there's just So. Much. Regret! because he killed her. But after writing this chapter, I'm tempted to write some Daud/Jessamine...maybe my next full-length fic...  
> 3\. Delilah being Jessamine's half-sister is a theory I read on TV Tropes and it makes so much sense to me, it practically became canon for me. Especially after the trailers for Dishonored 2 came out...Her Majesty Delilah Kaldwin, anyone?


	9. His Heart In My Hands

It was dark when we went back to the roof. Dark clouds were building ominously overhead, ready to burst at any moment. Gusts of wind made hair and/or clothing billow in the air. Basically, everything screamed 'Guys, this is the start of the story's climax'. (Writing drama and tension probably isn't one of my strong points)

It fell to me to be the calm one. Corvo and Jessamine were in a bit of a shock, to put it mildly. And you shouldn't judge them too harshly for this because they had just found out that their daughter had been kidnapped by a murderous witch with a grudge. I gently took the paper from Jessamine's hands and told them that we should talk to Daud about this, on the roof. They didn't respond, but when I led the way back to the roof, walking in a steady, deliberate pace, they followed, each clutching the other's hand like it was a lifeline. (People say that I'm always calm in moments of stress and this is true, but only because at times like that, I feel divorced from the emotions I should feel, and so focus on what should be done next. The emotions come later, after the dust has settled, and then I feel it worse than the others.)

Daud was smoking a cigar, but when he saw the three of us, with our grim (me) and petrified (Corvo and Jessamine) faces, he put it out. He looked at us questioningly. 

"Daud, Emily's been kidnapped by Delilah." I said.

He didn't look very surprised. He only raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Brigmore?" He asked.

"I think so," I said, while also nodding.

"We're off to Brigmore, then." Daud declared. He was serious about that redemption thing then. 

Jessamine had followed this exchange almost impassively. But now at last, she found her voice.

"You _think so_? she repeated scornfully "My daughter is in mortal peril, and I'm expected to rely on _I think so_ for her location and an assassin who tried to kill me for her rescue? Is this some sort of sick joke?" She rounded on me "You better be certain about this. If it turns out you're wrong and, and...I'll see that you pay for it. _Dearly_ " she finished, her eyes glinting. 

I only looked back at her without a word, and it seemed to diffuse the situation. The Empress's expression softened.

"I'm- I apologise. I won't have you punished, I only spoke out of anger...and-" she started to say

"If I may, " I broke in, trying to keep calm "I believe that us being here- " I inclined my head slightly to Daud and Billie "is not something she expected. She took Emily and left what she thought was a cryptic, creepy poem that would only hint at the writer being her. She didn't know that you'd be able to confirm it was here. She didn't know that we'd be up on the roof, here only to discuss her. And she didn't expect you to know where she lives. Or to talk to people who might know."  My heart raced, as they seemed to look convinced by what I was saying. "She doesn't know about _me_ " I added as an afterthought.

"So we go to Brigmore Manor, then." Jessamine declared. Everyone else (including me) had the same silent reaction: _We?_  


"Do you think it's a good idea for you to go?" Corvo asked her. Normally, that kind of question, would sound incredibly patronizing, but the way Corvo did it, he mildly afraid of what her response would be.

As it turned out, he was worrying about nothing because she didn't even deign to respond to him. Instead, Jessamine turned to me.

"I _will_ be accompanying you," she declared in a tone that brooked no argument "But if _you_ have any objections to this, I will hear you out and make a decision accordingly." (This, by the way, is the true climax of the story; The Empress was asking me to tell her what to do. I'm joking, of course. Mostly)

I considered this for a moment. 

"I have no objections, Your Majesty." I told her. And I wasn't just saying this because I was scared of her. Delilah would expect Jessamine to be in Dunwall Tower, sending Corvo and, like, the army (I mean professionals) to scour the city for Emily. She would not expect two supernatural assassins, one supernatural bodyguard, one Empress and one _Dishonored_ fan kicking her door down not even twelve hours after the kidnapping. Plus, Delilah was capable of long-range possession. Nowhere was safe, anyway. So, might as well just do things she wouldn't expect. This was my reasoning, but I didn't articulate it.

"Good." The Empress said. Then she turned to the others "Let's fucking go then."

And in a stunned silence, one by one, all of us fucking went.

* * *

Jessamine Kaldwin was more cunning than I had given her credit for (I had somehow assumed that she, a political leader, hadn't any cunning; I now realise how stupid that was). She had informed a servant that Emily was feeling unwell, so she had retired to her bedroom for a good night's rest and absolutely no one was to disturb her. Jessamine asked for one of her ships,  _Rebel_  to be made ready at once. We descended the waterlock in two small boats and out on the river, waiting for us was the Empress's   _Rebel_. (What a cool name for a ship!). _Rebel_  looked to be the same size as The Undine, Lizzie Stride's flagship. It had an open deck and an upper one with the bridge of the ship a level higher. The similarities ended there. _Rebel_ didn't have any imperial insignia on it, but it looked much more expensive than _The Undine_. I just want to take a moment here to point out the irony of the head of state (Empire actually) having a ship named _Rebel_.

"Who's piloting?" Daud asked, once we had climbed aboard and were all on the deck (I sound like a pirate!).

"I will. _Rebel_ is one of my fastest ships. Grey can stay with me, help me navigate." Jessamine said. _Grey?_  Daud nodded, looking slightly amused at my reaction to my newest appellation. "There are couches and beds below deck," she told everyone, "Get some rest. We're going to need it." 

Rest sounded nice, but since Jessamine wanted me to help her navigate a route I didn't actually know all that well, I had to stay awake. Corvo was already going downstairs, looking miserable and worried. Was he hoping to talk to the Outsider in his dreams? Daud, on the other hand, made his way to the far end of the deck, leaning on the rail, gazing out over the water, to Brood. For a moment, it looked as if Billie was going to join in, but she evidently thought the better of it and went below deck too. That wasn't going to be awkward at all.

The Empress started the engine and the ship slowly began moving. The engine made an incredibly loud, powerful hum that made the metal bench Jessamine and I were sitting on vibrate a little. It was making me feel even more drowsy.

"The Brigmore Estate. It's in the Mutcherhaven district?" she asked.

I nodded. Jessamine steered the ship away from Dunwall Tower, deftly weaving between the traffic on the river, or, as deft as you can be when you have to measure speed in knots. She was obviously good at this and seemed to like being out on the water.

"Do you have any advice for me? You know, as Empress?" she asked me after fifteen minutes of comfortable silence (it was comfortable for me, anyway; when you're sleepy, all silences are comfortable).

"Regarding the plague, you mean?" I said.

"Regarding everything. Will the plague be cured?"

In this timeline, it certainly looked likely. "Well," I said, choosing my words carefully "In time, maybe...yes. I think you should expect it to happen in stages, though."

"Who discovers it? Galvani?"

"No, in my vision, it was Sokolov and Piero Joplin."

"Those two working together! That's certainly an interesting future" Jessamine said, in the voice that people use to sound amused even though there's actually something terrible happening, but they want to stay sane. I racked my brain for something to say to maintain that tone. No point fretting now.

"I believe you know Anton Sokolov well." I remarked politely. I remembered that from somewhere. He'd said that he knew the Empress better than Corvo. _She was a strange one,_  he'd said. I had always wondered what he meant by that.

"Anton Sokolov is one of the brightest minds in the Empire, if not the brightest. He is a brilliant inventor, and has a deep understanding of natural philosophy. His mannerisms may be unappealing to some, but he has a truly singular mind. He will be remembered long after we're all gone."

"Have you ever helped him with anything?" _Don't be too inquisitive..._ But I was too curious (and too fond of gossip) to turn back now. I had to know.

"No, I've never. I was an Emperor's daughter, the heir to the throne. I was educated in politics, languages, history, economics, but very little Natural Philosophy. And as I said earlier, very few people, possess the kind of insight that he does. Although, there was one instance..." If I had dog ears, they'd have pricked up. 

"Anton came to the tower, paying me a visit. We dined together, and drank too. We drank too much. We were talking about death and dying, and Anton asked me if I wanted to live forever. I laughed and said yes. So we went down to a room in the dungeon, with only two candles and we...ah, performed some rituals. I don't remember exactly what we did, but at the end, Anton told me that I was now immortal. We were both extremely intoxicated, so it was probably my imagination, but in that moment, I swore the candlelight shone purple for a moment. As I said, our minds weren't at their sharpest. And, you saw me dead in your visions, so I can't be immortal. No one is immortal. It was just silly drunken antics." She sighed. "Once we find Emily and bring her home, I'll never drink again." she declared, looking, for a moment, as scared and unhappy as she felt. 

"We will find her. And you will drink again." I said, giving her a small, reassuring smile. 

"I hope so." she laughed humourlessly.

I wondered if that 'immortality ritual' was real. _She was a strange one._ She definitely wasn't going to tell me all the details of what they did and the way she mentioned the purple light...was that how her soul had been put into her own heart? Because her soul had been prepared for it? Or was it merely another instance of dumb shit people do when they're drunk? Sokolov didn't have supernatural powers, how would he accomplish making someone immortal? I decided that it didn't matter. She wasn't going to be trapped in her own heart, not while I was around.

I didn't stay awake for much longer after that. I found my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, and the hard metal bench we were sitting on more and more improbably comfortable and soon I drifted off to sleep.

I was awakened gently by Jessamine. "Wake up, " she was saying softly "we're almost there."

I stretched in my seat and yawned. It was extremely dark outside. The only source of light was the full moon in front of us, reflected in the water and casting a shimmering, rippling silvery light into the little cabin. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Go tell the others to get ready," Jessamine told me, in her nice mum voice, concealing the fear she was feeling. I nodded, got up, stretched again, and descended the stairs.

Corvo had switched places with Daud and I now found him at the end of the deck, Brooding. The moonlight was reflected in his eyes.

I then went below deck. Daud was sleeping in an armchair, his legs wide apart, Billie gently snoring on an ornate sofa. I didn't think shaking two assassins awake was a good idea.

"Daud, " I said loudly "Billie. We're here." Daud's eyes snapped open immediately. Billie did the long sniff thing that some people (including me) do when they wake up and then yawned. Daud did no such thing.

"We're here. At Brigmore." I repeated, in case they hadn't caught what I said the first time.

* * *

If you're anything like me, you found Brigmore Manor in the game terrifying and creepy. It was a rundown, sprawling estate, haunted by its past, when it stood proud and dignified, now populated by murderous river krusts, creepy (yet pretty) glowing flowers and vines, sculptures that could see you and screech, witches that saw you and screech and their undead dogs. It catered to a wide range of fears.

Brigmore Manor at night was a million times more terrifying.

The same abandoned house, now illuminated only by moonlight, the windows all broken, dark and dead, silvery swirling mists in the vast grounds, obscuring the manor from view at times, tall trees piercing the grey veil of fog, glowing silvery-blue flowers, and glowing floating insects. And silence. No sound of idle witch chatter, no hellhound (sorry, _gravehound_ ) growls, not even footsteps. Just the gentle, distant sound of the water flowing in the river, and insects. I wasn't sure if this was worse than hearing the witches. It probably was.

We approached the fence hugging the cliff along the river. I'd told them that there might be a hole in the fence, so we wouldn't have to go through the gate. As we got closer and closer to the fence, I strained to hear any sounds that indicated a welcoming party in the grounds, but there was nothing to be heard. 

We reached the fence and there was mercifully a hole in it, that we could climb through. We had a reasonably good view of the front grounds from here. Through the fog (itself glowing slightly), I could see clumps of luminescent flowers on the ground and floating, glowing insects hovering lazily in the silvery swirl, all emitting ghostly bluish light. It was beautiful in a haunting, eerie way. But there didn't seem to be anybody. Next to me, Daud had his spyglass out. 

"No one. It's clear." he said finally.

"How do we get in?" Corvo asked. 

"The crypt." I answered. "On the other side," I pointed to the other side of the grounds, "past the greenhouse, is a graveyard. There's a secret switch in one of the mausoleums that opens an entrance into the crypt. The basement of the building, that is." It would be perfect. Delilah had only ordered the handle to be removed in the DLC because she was expecting Daud. But probably had no clue we were there right now! Maybe that's why she didn't have witches patrolling the area, her statues would be sufficient. Still, the silence, and lack of activity felt like a trap.

"Wait," I said and everyone looked at me. "Can you see that statue over there?" I pointed to the statue in front of the house, "It's a sentry. We're going to have to walk behind it. It cannot see us. If it does, it's going to raise an alarm. So we must not let it see us." I was terrified of those statues. The first time I encountered one of them, it gave me a fucking heart attack.

So, clinging to the walls of the dilapidated estate, we carefully and quietly began our journey across the front of the estate. As we approached the statue, I slowed my pace even more, my heart thumping wildly. It occurred to me that I was actually playing _Dishonored_ in _Dishonored_ , but I stopped that train of thought quickly because it was silly. We were now directly behind the statue. Then a little past it. Then even more. And then we reached the solarium. 

The graveyard seemed empty too, and creepy with the graves and the swirling mist. There weren't any gravehound skulls. There weren't any tripwires. Just the soft persistent chirping of the insects.

The lever was in the mausoleum. I walked in first. 

"Wait, " I said again, "before we go inside...there's another statue down there, and there's no way to avoid it. So we'll have to break it. Fast."

"Explosive bolts." Daud rasped. _Good_. That statue in the game had merely been a Doctor Who shoutout, but I wasn't sure that the in-universe statue  would act in the same way.

"There might be tripwires in the house. So look where you step." Was I actually giving these people instructions? These certified hardcore bosses? "Additionally, some of these witches keep these undead dogs called gravehounds. If you see a skull on the ground, do not approach it. And if you do, to truly kill it, you'll have to smash the skull. But please try not to. Please don't kill dogs. And the witches, you should try and subdue them before they scream. They scream to invoke their powers." I explained hastily. "But try and avoid confronting them." I said to a group that involved two of Dunwall's best stealth assassins.

"Oh, and the most likely locations where Emily might be kept are Delilah's studio on the third floor, and the gallery on the first floor" It pained me to use the American convention for floors, but time was short and I had to get my point across efficiently. This is the true climax of the story (Again, mostly joking. My idea of humour is lame sometimes).

Everyone looked at me as if I had more instructions to give (or if you're less generous, info to dump), but I didn't, so without much ceremony, I pulled the lever, and the marble slab slid open slowly and loudly to reveal a yawning hole that I was going to have to jump through.

And jump we did, one by one. Some did it gracefully (Daud, Billie, Jessamine and Corvo) and some less so (me), but only slightly. As I got to my feet and dusted my black jacket a little, I noticed that the only sources of light were the creepy glowing flowers on the ceiling and the creepy glowing statue that we couldn't see from where we were, and more importantly, which couldn't see us. 

I indicated the placement of the statue to Daud. He nodded, got his crossbow ready, blinked right in front of the statue and blew it up _just_ as it started to scream, all while looking stoic and underwhelmed as usual. What a professional.

I stepped ahead and saw bits of marble on the floor where the statue had stood a few seconds ago. Now the ceiling flowers were the only source of light, giving everyone's skin a weird bluish colour.

"The rest of the house is past that door." I said to no one in particular. 

"I think you and Grey Witch should stay back here," Corvo said to Jessamine "Who knows what we'll find out there. I'll come get you when we find Emily." he turned to Billie, "Stay here. Guard the Empress." Neither Daud nor Billie looked happy about being bossed around by Corvo, but they also said nothing. Daud swung the door open and walked left down the collapsing corridor without a glance behind, but Corvo gave Jessamine a lingering look at the threshold, and then as if with great effort, tore his eyes away from her and followed Daud. 

Jessamine went and sat on the tomb with the grass growing out of it, with perfect posture and her hands in her lap. After a few minutes, Billie crept out too muttering 'just to see' as she walked past me. I stood frozen to the spot. This waiting was agonizing and horrible. 

Billie came back in, a minute later. "They've split up." she announced.

"For fuck's sake," I muttered, burying my face in my hands. When had 'hey, let's split up' in a creepy abandoned mansion ever, _ever_ worked out fine? Those two, with their stupid, lone-wolf, bullshit mentality...I was pissed off. Jessamine remained impassive, but her eyes narrowed.

"I know, " Billie said "The thing is - I have to go after him. Daud. He told me, on the way here, that if it came to it, he'd give up his life for Emily's. He's going to do something stupid, I know it. And I have to go stop him." She wasn't asking to leave, I realised, she was telling me. I nodded feebly. Billie really did love him.

I went over to sit next to Jessamine, trying to give her a reassuring smile, but failing miserably. Instead, we held hands, a sign of comfort and solidarity, reassurance that we weren't alone. Her hands were as cold and clammy as mine. 

This quiet moment of solidarity was interrupted by a rumbling sound behind us. I turned around to see the marble piece of the shattered statue quiver tentatively. And then quiver while levitating slightly. Reflexively, I pulled Jessamine up and we ran to the door. I peered around in time to see the pieces start reforming the statue, until after a lot of what I can only describe as 'rubble noise', the statue was complete. A marble sculpture of Delilah standing coyly, hands covering her eyes. Exactly how I felt.

Jessamine saw this over my shoulder, standing on tiptoe. I turned around to face her. We were in the dark corridor, a shaft of moonlight falling through a hole in the roof. Three floors above us. Daud was right, this place was worse than the Flooded District.

"We can't stay here," Jessamine said "We should keep moving."

"But, but we're...unarmed, I can't defend myself, we- "

Jessamine had stopped my babbling by producing a small, elegant-looking silver crossbow from her coat.

"Do you think," she said pulling bolts (sleep darts, I think) out of another pocket "that after that assassination attempt, I'd walk around unarmed? I've a good aim too" she said grimly.

I stole up the corridor and leaned around to peer at the entrance hall. It was utterly empty. I was gathering the courage to step into the hall. Jessamine walked right past me.

We walked across the desolate, dark hall, with only the moon and glowy flowers to give us light. I wasn't all that familiar with the ground floor because I'd only played _The_ _Brigmore Witches_ thrice so far and I was always a big coward when it came to this area (I've written the kind of story where my playing _The_ _Brigmore Witches_ only three times is a minor plot point; I need to go rethink my life). What I'm trying to get at is, we got a bit lost. We were walking down an unfamiliar flooded corridor (empty) and reached a door.

I had my hand on the handle as Jessamine readied her crossbow. I pushed the door open.

This was the door to the gallery room.

Delilah was in the room.

She had her back turned to us. We crept forward silently, my heart pounding in my ears. To the left of the room, in a tangle of vines,  trapped against the wall was Emily. Jessamine stifled a gasp. She readied her crossbow. Delilah was poring over something, unaware of our presence. 

Jessamine took aim and shot. She got Delilah in the back of her thigh. Delilah staggered to the side and then collapsed to the floor.

We rushed to the left of the room where Emily was suspended by thick, thorny vines. She was unconscious. 

"Emily? Emily!" Jessamine shouted, reaching for her daughter through the vines. I tried moving them, but they wouldn't budge. And then, we heard icy laughter.

We turned around, our hands still on the vines, to see Delilah get to her feet with a psychotic smile, yanking the dart out of the back of her thigh.

"You didn't actually think that that would work, did you, Jessie?" she asked, stretching her arms, squaring her shoulders, walking forwards in light, dainty steps. We wouldn't stand a chance.

"You took everything from me. But now, I'm going to take back what's mine. You, who always thought you were better than me. You and...who's this?" she asked, looking at me, "I sent my sisters away in preparation for this little plan of mine. I didn't want them to face the ire of the Empire for my actions. And you, you'll bring an innocent girl to share your fate with you? Are you really more suited to the throne?" she sighed dramatically "I have nothing more to say to you. Goodbye." _This is it_ , I thought. But nothing happened. 

That's when Corvo jumped down from the upper level.

He jumped off and landed on his feet. His legs didn't even buckle. Then I noticed his eyes. I could only see the whites. Horror-stricken, I slowly turned to look at the painting Delilah had been studying. It was a portrait of Corvo, done in red, in Delilah's colourful, semi-abstract style. 

As he advanced in slow, lumbering steps, Delilah said, "I want you dead, Jessie, and I want the one you love the most to do it. He thought he could get the better of me, thought he could knock me out! I want to see your face when he puts the knife in, I want to see the light go out of your eyes!"

Maybe it was the adrenaline that made me see what happened next in slow motion. First, Jessamine, tears glistening in her eyes, shot Corvo in the gut with the crossbow two times. He stumbled and fell to the ground, face-first. Then Delilah, brimming with outage, opened her mouth to scream for her powers, and she did scream, opening her mouth wide, because out of her mouth emerged the flat side of a blade. She fell to ground dead, and behind her, knife clutched in his hand was Daud.

Instantly, the vines that restrained Emily, fell slack, releasing her. She was still unconscious. As was Corvo. Billie blinked next to Daud.

"Dammit, I missed it," she said with a dissonant nonchalance. "Hope she didn't put up too much of a fight."

I was shaking. It was over and I didn't want to move. None of it felt real.

Daud and Billie carried Corvo while Jessamine and I took Emily out of the wretched house, through the accursed grounds (past the front gate this time) onto the nice ship (my sense of humour came back) and set them on the sofa and armchair below deck. 

Daud said that he had something to do back in the house, and he would return soon. He left with Billie. Once they were gone, Jessamine sobbed into my jacket and thanked me many times during her sobs. I actually wanted to cry too, but I couldn't because Jessamine was already crying. I couldn't get the image of Delilah's dying scream out of my head. I didn't feel very good about all of this.

Daud and Billie returned soon.

Jessamine went up to the bridge to start the journey back.

"You," Daud rasped at me, "I want to talk."

I approached him cautiously, on the rail of the deck. One end of the sky had a pink tinge.

"Two things," he said, "and you can't tell your Empress either, understood? When I went back, Delilah's body has vanished. I searched all over the house. It's not there."

"What?" I asked, horrified "Is she not dead?"

"I don't know," he said "She looked pretty dead to me when I knifed her in the back of the head." 

Secondly, " he continued, ignoring my horrified expression "this one's going to interest you. I had a word with our beloved otherworldly friend just now, back there." My heart leapt up into my throat. 

"Congratulations," he said "You're going home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. This took me all day and half the night to write. I proofread it to the best of my ability, just now at 7AM on three hours of sleep. It feels good to me, though. And I'm proud of it. I'm proud of this whole fic.  
> 2\. The Brigmore Manor part was intense to write! I could actually see it unfold in my mind, and my heart was racing when I wrote the final confrontation. Hopefully you find it tense too. Maybe I'm getting better at writing tense scenes. Maybe I'm easily excited.  
> 3\. So Delilah finally made an entrance, and then an exit, and another exit. I hope you found that OK.  
> 4\. The title of this fic refers to what Delilah called her painting of Corvo. The 'heart' refers whichever heart you like (It's Jessamine's for me).  
> 5\. This was the climax of the whole fic. Everything after this is the denouement, and hopefully you like that too. It's going to be hard for me to say goodbye to writing this fic, but I hope you like the ending!


	10. Respite

Emily was still asleep when we reached Dunwall Tower. It was an hour past dawn now, and the rising sun made everything golden and fresh and promising. 

Corvo was carrying Emily. She'd regained consciousness on the way back, but only mumbled brief answers groggily in response to her parents' frantic questioning, and shortly thereafter went back to sleep. She was tired, but unhurt, Corvo and Jessamine had announced, with relief bordering on tears.

Daud was piloting the boat on the way back. He stopped _Rebel_  in front of the waterlock. A tiny boat was brought out of the hold and lowered, along with a rope ladder. Daud climbed down from the bridge, emotionless and eyes fixed on Jessamine. She looked back at him solemnly.

"You saved my daughter. You saved my life. For that, I thank you. It's a small offering, but keep the boat, as a token of my gratitude, " Daud raised his eyebrows. He was suppressing a smile, I could tell. "And, Daud," she said, not hiding her wry smile, "consider yourself redeemed."

Daud didn't sink to his knees and sing songs of glory to the skies as I'm sure (I'm almost certainly wrong about this) he felt like doing internally. Instead he did smile faintly this time, and inclined his head to her. "Empress." he rasped and went back up to the bridge of his new ship.  I turned to look for Billie, but she must have been lurking out of sight (I've wanted to make that joke for _so_ _long_ ; I don't care that it's lame anymore).

Jessamine turned to me.

"Twice you've saved my life. It was because of you that we found Emily so quickly. My family can never repay you. Corvo may have already told you this, but if you have no place else, we'll be happy to provide you quarters at Dunwall Tower for as long as you want. I'd be honored to take you on as an adviser. What do you think?"

Ah. There it was. The Choice. I could stay here, among people that I knew extremely well, in a city, parts of which I knew well, in a place whose future wasn't a swirling clusterfuck of uncertainty. Things made sense here, and everything happened for a reason. There were no coincidences. If you've read TV Tropes as much as I have, the prospect of remaining in a fictional world is very appealing, and I'm not saying this to drum up some staying vs leaving conflict (I wanted to leave).

At this point, I must elaborate on the 'going home' thing Daud told me, which I chose to be the previous chapter's cliffhanger. The Outsider had told him that his story was now over and he'd done it in the way only he could, and a bunch of other vague, semi-cryptic Outsider stuff about Daud (I didn't really pay attention at that point because I was internally like 'TELL ME HOW I'M GOING TO GET HOME, GODDAMMIT!'). So evidently, the ship that Daud was taking, would be my way home. When Daud told me this, he assumed that I was going to be dropped off at some remote island or something. I hadn't bothered to correct him yet. I'd tell him later. 

So these were my two choices. Stay forever in the world of _Dishonored_ (I doubted that I would be given another chance to leave after this; the Outsider controlled this world and it was unlikely that he would give me a second chance to leave after I'd turned down the first one) or go back home. To a world of random cruelty, uncertainty, a world where I'd have to fight for what was mine, didn't have an assured future, full of awful people and all the rest. Again: I wanted to go home.

"What do you think?" Jessamine had asked me before I went jumped on this introspection train (this chapter is going to be full of me introspecting; as you can see, it's not pretty. You have been warned).

"Your offer," I said thinking _Don't cry, bitch, don't cry..._ "is very generous. I'm really, so grateful that you'd let me stay in your house. But I'm afraid I can't accept. An opportunity has come up...for me to finally go home. And I..." I couldn't finish.

Jessamine stepped forward and gave me a hug. I buried my face in her shoulder and let my eyes tear up a little. I finally pulled away and we smiled at each other.

"I'm very glad to have met you," Jessamine said to me earnestly "and maybe you can visit sometime."

"I'd like that," I said to her and a small part of me actually meant it.

I smiled and waved as she descended the rope ladder.  Corvo turned to me. "I'd give you a hug too" he smiled "but..." he raised Emily slightly. 

"That's alright," I said. "Good luck to you. To the three of you. Emily is going to be a great Empress someday. She's going to make you and her mother proud." Corvo smiled at me even more broadly.

"Goodbye, then" he said and his smile faded somewhat. He and Daud (who was standing on the bridge, overlooking this whole scene) nodded at each other curtly. And then he was gone. I rushed to the railing and found the three of them on that tiny boat. Jessamine started the motor and drove the boat into the waterlock, she and Corvo waving at me as they did so. I waved back.

"Ready to leave, now?" Daud called out.

"Yes," I whispered hoarsely, and nodded to make up for that. 

"Yipee," said Billie Lurk in a deadpan voice, appearing next to me out of nowhere "To the docks, at last."

* * *

Daud hadn't planned on going back to the Flooded District. Everything he needed, he had on his person. I was a bit disconcerted that he'd be starting his retirement in his uniform. I always pictured him changing into a Hawaiian shirt, for some reason.

We'd left _Rebel_  at the docks. The plan was for the Whalers to sell it. The ship we'd be boarding was much bigger than _Rebel_. It wasn't called _Homecoming_  or _Exile_  or any other situation-appropriate name. It was called _Beatrix_ , named after Jessamine's late mother. We had the ship to ourselves, aside from the captain and the crew (it wasn't _that_  big).

Daud and Billie were to have rooms for themselves. When I'd brattily asked _What about meeee_  Daud asked me to follow him. I wasn't that scared of him anymore. But I was still, let's say, nervous.

We climbed below deck into a dingy storage room, full of dusty shelves of dusty jars and containers. Past these rows of shelves, was a door.

"Look through the keyhole," Daud told me.

I got to my knees, closed one eye and pressed the other to the door, ignoring how perfect an opportunity this would be to stab me (I have no combat training, he could have stabbed me any time he liked; still these irrational fears persist). I couldn't see much of the room through the tiny keyhole, but what tiny sliver I could see was almost entirely purple. 

"Past this room," Daud rasped, "that's your way back home. That's why I didn't get you a bed, I assumed you'd want to leave at once."

He had assumed right. I did want to go home at once. The idea of staying back here in a fictional universe forever was so devastatingly appealing to me. But I knew, not very deep down, that it wouldn't work out. It already wasn't working out. True, the Empress herself was indebted to me and I had an in with the ruling family, but all of this had been predicated on my ability to tell the future, which I'd thrown out of the window when I saved Jessamine. I did have knowledge of the setting, but we seemed to be in postgame territory now, and six months prior. How relevant would any of my information be? I wasn't in control of where I went. I'd have to rely on other people for everything. I wouldn't be free to do as I liked. And I missed home. I missed technology. I missed the internet and I missed my dog. I couldn't stay here.  I couldn't even pretend to be especially conflicted, because there was no conflict.

I was just about to raise my hand to open the door, then - 

"Before you go, " Daud said "why don't you join Billie and me for a drink? Keep us company until we get past the blockade."

I was so stunned that I said yes.

* * *

I would truly miss the whiskey in this game, I decided, as Daud refilled my empty glass for the third time. I had a nice buzz going on and this would be my last glass. I didn't want to be drunk out of my mind for my homecoming.

"We're past the blockade," Daud remarked.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"Can you see those ships back there?" Billie pointed behind me. I turned around. I couldn't see those ships back there.

"Yes," I lied, still looking behind me.

"Those are the blockade ships. The captain's bribed them, so they won't stop us, even though they can see us...you didn't see the ships did you?"

"No," I laughed. Billie laughed too.

I stopped laughing and sighed deeply. It was time for me to go. But I wasn't sure how to do this politely. Daud noticed though. Was I some sort of open book to him?

"Before you go," he said, not slurring even though he was on his fourth glass "tell us your real name. It's obviously not Grey Witch. What is it?"

I hesitated for a moment. And then I told them, getting up from my seat.

"That's a nice name," Billie said, also rising. "So you're leaving now?"

I couldn't say anything, so I nodded. 

"Good luck," she said softly, and then gave me a brief, tight hug.

"OK then," I said with a touch of conclusion  _Wait, is OK even a word here?_  


"I'll see you off." Daud grunted, getting up, half-empty glass in hand.

We were just about to go into the hold, when Billie stopped us.

"Wait, you have to see this." she grinned, handing me the eyeglass. "There, behind us"

I trained the eyeglass to where Billie directed. There was a ship and on it was a group of people. They weren't wearing their gas masks, but the uniforms were instantly recognizable.

"I hope all of you can find something nicer to wear in Serkonos" I said to Billie, handing her the eyeglass.

"No, keep it," she said "something to remember me by" she laughed. "Wait." she said suddenly, "you knew we're going to Serkonos?"

"You shouldn't be surprised at the point." I told her. She smiled at me. But we didn't hug this time.

Daud had said nothing, but had the face of a man whose retirement had gone horribly wrong twenty minutes after it began. We went into the hold again.

"It's a vineyard," he said, out of nowhere "I bought it ten years ago, kept it ready for...something like this. It'll house all of us." he paused, "If you've changed your mind about this, there's room for you too."

I was touched beyond words, that he was trying to be soft with me. But, obviously I couldn't accept. I told him so as gently as I could.

"That's alright," he said. We'd come to the door again. "I want to thank you. For what you've done. You made this happen for me. I'm extremely grateful. If we meet again, I hope it's under pleasant circumstances. Good luck, with your life, wherever that is."

On a sudden impulse, I hugged him too. This is surprising because I never initiate hugs. Even more surprising was that he was hugging back, in an awkward fashion, patting me mechanically on my back. It lasted all of five seconds, but oh, how glorious; I hugged Daud!

"Hold on," he said acting as if what just happened didn't happen, reaching into one of his pockets producing some sheets of paper, "these little notes you made. I'm done obsessing over them. Take them." And so I pocketed them. "Goodbye," he said, calling me by my real name.

Then, giving him one last smile, which he returned mildly, I swung the door open, stepped into the room bathed in creepy purple light, and closed the door with a sudden finality dawning over me. _No going back now_. I walked into the room.

Everything faded to black.

* * *

**THE VOID**

He's right in front of her. She's not comfortable with people standing this close to her, but she doesn't voice this concern.

  
_So,_ and he calls her by her real name, _at last, the end of your adventure. I found it enjoyable....didn't you?_  


She tells him the truth. That even though she'd earned the trust of people the people she'd loved and respected and that she was a person of note, she didn't enjoy it all that much. She tells him that she knows she'll never truly belong here. She tells him that she can never truly be happy here.

  
_Even after you've accomplished so much?_  he asks her. She thinks he's mocking her. Maybe he is.

She bitterly responds that she's accomplished nothing. Yes, she says, she's saved the Empress and eliminated the threat that Delilah posed to the throne. But what about the others, she asks. What about Teague Martin, and Admiral Havelock? All the other people who want the Empress dead? She sighs. She tells him that when she came her, she thought that saving the Empress would magically fix everything. She sees how stupid that is now. 

  
_Oh, a pessimist,_ he says. He's definitely mocking her, _A jaded, world-weary cynic. Except...you always wanted what was best for everyone. You had a gift and you used it to save an Empire. I knew that your being here would make things interesting. These past two weeks have been rife with excitement and unpredictability. Maybe you're fascinating too. But you're going home now, back to a world of familiarity and uncertainty. Will you regret this choice? Maybe we'll see each other again._  


Before she can reply, everything becomes white. Blindingly, dazzlingly white....

* * *

I found myself on the sofa in the drawing room. For a moment, everything appeared frozen, but then I heard the low hum of the ceiling fan. Muffy stirred in his sleep next to me.

I had my laptop in front of me, on my thighs. _Dishonored_ , the monitor said, _Press any key to continue_. Something was pressing on my chest. The eyeglass and the papers.

I inhaled slowly and deeply. I leaned back against the sofa, looking upwards, tears filling my eyes.

* * *

In the weeks that followed, even those closest to me didn't seem to notice that anything was off. Maybe I was a little more quiet and withdrawn than usual, but it was hardly anything that had never happened before. I dealt with the transition mostly well. I kept myself busy enough that I wasn't deeply upset. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. Sometimes, it was the good things, like Jessamine hugging me, or Corvo telling me that he didn't think I was useless. Sometimes it was the bad things, like how trapped I had felt, how helpless and irrelevant. Sometimes it was things that had seemed bad at the time, but not anymore, like Brigmore Manor at night. I hadn't played _Dishonored_ since...then. I knew I'd feel better if I could talk to someone about it; but they'd think I'd lost my mind, and with good reason. But I had to get it off my chest. And then it struck me. The one place I could talk about this without anyone doubting my sanity. 

I fired up my laptop and opened the word processor application. I wanted to do it fast, before I got cold feet and ditched the idea. 

  
_I'm a big believer in escapism._  I started typing _I like being insulated from reality, because reality tends to be boring and awful. And depressing. Also, don't think I can't see you guys fucking out of this fic because it's in the first person..._  


On and on it went. I didn't stop for quite a while. And I felt better afterwards. It was even more fun coming up with a chapter name...

* * *

So here we are now, at the end of my account of my sojourn in Dunwall. Writing it out has helped tremendously. And it was a lot of fun. It's helped deepen my appreciation of the world of _Dishonored_. But I still haven't found myself wishing to be transported into a fictional universe again. I don't think that's going to happen soon.

I do find myself missing Jessamine, Daud and the rest quite often. I miss being able to predict the outcome of events with reasonable certainty. I wonder how they are. I wonder if what happened in there was even canon. I like to think that it's a little universe unto itself and Jessamine is still alive and the plague is cured and Emily has both her parents around. Sometimes it bothers me that I never got to meet some of my other favourite characters, that I never got to help them. I try not to do that anymore though, it's not going to get me anywhere. I stand by everything I did and I have no regrets.

Regarding the opening paragraph: I still believe in escapism. Reality is mostly bullshit. If you give me a story with escapism vs. reality as the central conflict, I will never, ever take 'Escapism is bad' as the moral. It can't be a bad thing to want to escape reality. However, I suppose that more extreme forms of escapism are scary. That's some firsthand experience right there. 

And with that I end this 100% True Story/Fanfiction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I'm just going to pat myself on the back here, because after four failed fanfics that I abandoned (all at chapter 2) I've finally managed to finish one.  
> 2\. I think the deconstruction of self-insert fics took a backseat somewhere along the way and it mostly focused on the plot, but hopefully this didn't become a Mary Sue fic in the end...the characters Self Insert interacts with all like her, but no one else does. They still distrust her. Everyone will. That's what she would have had to live with if she chose to stay (which is not a trope I'm overly fond of). And she'd become almost irrelevant very quickly, only kept around out of a sense of obligation.  
> 3\. I'm really really proud of what I've done here. It isn't the greatest fic, but I'm proud of it anyway. I don't regret any choices that I made. And I feel like even if I reread this again in a year, I'll feel the same way. (I like that I finally demolished the fourth wall at the end of the fic. It seemed fitting)  
> 4\. It's surprisingly sad to finish a fic, I wasn't expecting that. I thought it was all triumph and accomplishment. It's actually bittersweet.  
> 5\. Please let me know what you thought of this fic, the things you liked, the things you didn't, don't be shy about feedback. I check this site like fifty times a day and I'll be supremely delighted to answer any questions that you might have.


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